Choose or Lose
by morgana07
Summary: Things are getting back to normal for the Winchesters or so Dean thought before he gets a call that reminds him that breaking ties isn't always easy & will end up forcing him to make a choice that will place Sam in danger either way.*Hurt/limp/sick!Sam & Limp/furious/big brother!Dean* Evil!Benny (See A/N for more) Set between 08x13 Everybody Hates Hitler and 08x14 Trial & Error
1. Chapter 1

**Choose or Lose**

**Summary: **_Things are getting back to normal for the Winchesters or so Dean thought before he gets a call that reminds him that breaking ties isn't always easy & will end up forcing him to make a choice that will place Sam in danger either way.*Hurt/limp/sick!Sam & Limp/furious/big brother!Dean* Evil!Benny (See author note for more) Set between 08x13 Everybody Hates Hitler and 08x14 Trial and Error_

**Warnings/Spoilers: **_I'll warn for language and also for violence for while it may be pushing the line I'll give it an M warning even though it may not need one. I'll feel safer with one. Nothing too extreme but there will be mention of some vampire feeding that isn't altogether agreed upon. Doesn't show it, just mentions it but I put the warning up to be safe. _

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own anything. This is written for the enjoyment of others._

**Author Note: **_Okay, so now I'm on the track of Evil!Benny so fans of Benny may want to avoid this one since he's a bit OOC from the show. Also, while I don't usually bring reoccurring characters back unless it's from my sub-series, this one will have a return guest shot by someone who I introduced in my previous story Desperately Seeking Sam. That one isn't really needed to read to understand this one since I'll try to keep any mentions of that plot brief and that one had an OOC Amelia just too be safe. _

_This one probably will only have two or three chapters so I hope you guys enjoy it and feel free to look me up on Facebook under morgana07._

**Chapter One**

The sound of AC/DC could be heard blaring out open windows of the black 1967 Chevy Impala while it rolled down a nearly deserted highway towards Sioux Falls, South Dakota with its driver keeping a light beat to the music by tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.

Dean Winchester was never happier than when he was driving his baby as he liked to refer to the car as and as he drove her now he had to admit that this was the most relaxed he'd felt in a long time.

Certainly the most relaxed he could remember being since his return from Purgatory a few months earlier and picked up hunting again.

A glance at the empty seat beside him reminded him of why he was returning to Sioux Falls and he gave a silent little grin at the thought of the names his little brother was probably calling him after getting left at the old salvage yard that had belonged to Bobby Singer to pack up what stuff they'd be taking with them to the Men of Letters base while Dean went to check on Kevin Tran.

The young Prophet of the Lord had been hidden away on Garth's houseboat for safekeeping while he tried to decipher their half of the demon tablet and every once and awhile the Winchesters would go check on him.

It was usually Dean who got that job though and he was fairly certain it was because Sam liked the fact that Garth was a hugger and he always had to hug Dean before he let him leave.

Taking a deep breath even if the air was hot and humid coming in the Impala's windows, he let it out slowly with an honest smile.

It felt good to be able to be relaxed even after all that he and Sam had been going through and he wasn't sure what had flipped the switch to make the change but Dean had to admit it felt good and he hadn't felt like this in a long time, even before the year in Purgatory.

Since his return, the strain between him and Sam had been back thick enough to cut with a knife and Dean knew he'd been laying a lot of crap on his brother that Sam really didn't deserve but it was hard to admit that without letting other walls fall and that was not something the elder hunter was ready to do yet.

Purgatory had left Dean raw in ways that he'd sworn never to speak of, especially to his younger brother because in his mind talking about the nightmares, the things he'd seen and done or that he'd allowed to happen went against every 'shield and protect Sammy' rule he'd ever made for himself.

Even fighting, even tossing crap at Sam for dropping out of hunting for whatever reason he had since Dean had his doubts that the line about hitting a dog and meeting a girl even came close to what really made his brother not look for him, that still didn't mean he stopped trying to shield Sam from things.

More recently though he and Sam seemed to have come to an agreement and that was when Dean began to notice the change.

He'd offered Sam the chance to leave, leave hunting…leave him to go back to the so-called normal life he'd started in Texas and had honestly expected his brother to be gone before he'd even finished the sentence but Sam had surprised him by staying and that had been it.

Or it had been until last month when the truth behind Sam's time in Kermit, Texas came out in a way that Dean knew he'd be eighty and still having nightmares about.

Neither of them mentioned Sam's leaving or the missing year again and while Dean understood his brother would always desire settling down to normal he couldn't deny the relief in his heart that Sammy had stayed because while he didn't talk about Purgatory it was still a help to know Sam was always there.

Of course it hadn't just been Sam who'd made a choice recently to cut ties to other things. Dean had to make that choice as well and it was something that he still thought about during the dark times when the nightmares would come and he'd have to go check on Sam to be sure his brother was still there and safe.

It hadn't just been Sam's so-called fake life with Amelia that had caused strife between the brothers and again Dean understood that had been mostly his fault because if he understood anything about Sam it was that his brother didn't like surprises being dropped on him and no matter how old the kid got or how much he denied it, Sam was a jealous kid. Especially if he feared another wedge was coming between them.

Benny was a vampire and that normally made him prime enemy number one to any hunter, including Dean but he wouldn't have gotten out of Purgatory without him so that left him a debt to pay.

He'd brought Benny out with him, got him to his bones and let the spell do the rest and thought that would be the end of it.

Dean hadn't wanted Sam to know about Benny for a number of reasons. The main one being he didn't want his brother close to anything that came from Purgatory and that included the vampire that had saved his life but had also been the cause of a lot of his darker memories of that time.

Of course, Sam found out and things went downhill from there because there was no way that Dean could see to explain things to Sam without his brother possibly getting hurt and so he buried it the only way he knew how and that was by lashing back to hurt Sam, to push him away.

Protecting Sam often meant hurting his brother himself or so Dean had learned early on in his life and to protect Sam this time he reluctantly said the cruelest things he could think of and it worked only too well.

Sam stopped asking about Purgatory and he stopped asking too many things about Benny which suited Dean just fine even if it also meant Sam shied away from Dean as well because he believed his brother hated him and didn't trust him.

He'd assured Sam once his brother had made the choice not to return to Texas that he'd do the same and end his contact with the Louisiana vampire.

The call a couple weeks ago that allowed Dean to break that connection had gone better than he was actually expecting since Benny had been the one to call him earlier asking him to come meet him.

Dean didn't expect the vampire to take his refusal well or handle it when he said he wouldn't help him out anymore but Benny had surprised him by simply agreeing and wishing him well.

A part of Dean still held himself on guard, constantly on edge as if expecting an attack or some type of retribution because while the vampire appeared laid back and easy going and didn't drink from humans as a rule the hunter had seen the other side of his friend and knew how dark Benny could be.

Once the first week passed without any calls or anything happening, he began to relax until now today as he drove back to South Dakota to grab Sam and whatever stuff they were taking with them Dean was actually good enough that he thought he may begin to let Sam understood the truth wasn't exactly what he thought it was.

Dean was debating with himself on grabbing some food to take back to the burned out husk of a house and starting fresh in the morning or just packing up little brother and stuff to get back on the road when his cellphone ringing caught him off guard.

It was Sam's ringtone which was a surprise since he'd been trying to get ahold of Sam since he left Garth and Kevin but had assumed his brother had his head buried in a box or maybe the weather shifted to block the signal again which was Dean's biggest gripe about the old place…it had the shoddiest reception at times.

"Hey, good news Kevin's still alive. The bad news is that I think he and Garth are bonding so I'm pretty sure we should be terrified of that," he chuckled, surprised at how easy it came out since he'd felt like he was on a constant battle edge for months. "You want me to grab burgers, pizza or salad for you? Sam?"

Dean frowned a little when he didn't get the expected response or any response for a couple seconds of dead air until he thought he heard something that sounded like a muffled noise or something that caused a trickle of unease start to build in his belly. "Sam?"

"Hey there, brother. Been awhile, Dean. You still remember my voice?"

Tires and brakes made various sounds of disagreement when the Impala suddenly was swerved onto the side of the road so Dean could shove it into park before his fist clenched around his phone. "Benny?" he knew the voice well since it was one of only about four in all of his life that Dean knew he'd never forget no matter how hard he tried. "What the hell? What're you doing on Sam's phone and…"

A suddenly sick feeling was now welling up more and Dean felt his breathing nearly stop before the building anger began to take hold. "Where's my brother?" he demanded harshly, swearing viciously under his breath at the low laugh that would've sounded like pure honey coated whiskey if the hunter didn't know it for what it was.

"Oh, your little brother's here with me, Dean," Benny assured him, the slow smile couldn't be seen but it was heard as was the low amused chuckle. "He just ain't where you left him is all."

"What? What the hell is this, Benny?" Dean feared he knew and was kicking himself for not seeing it coming, not being better prepared and especially for leaving Sam alone. "Let me talk to him."

Chuckling as he shook his head as if he could be seen, the vampire looked down into heated and hateful hazel eyes before moving a hand, amused that the boy thought it would be so easy. "Why would I do that?" he countered. "Don't you wanna know what this is about or if your boy's alive or…"

"If you were going to kill Sam you would've done it so I'd find his body when I got back," Dean gritted, shoving that image away because he could only too easily see it in his mind. "Fine. What the hell do you want, Benny? I told you the last time that it was over, that I wouldn't help you anymore…is that what this is about?"

"Right the first try, brother," Benny shifted the phone to his other hand so he could grab a hand full of soft shaggy hair in order to yank the younger Winchester's head back around. "Y'see, I thought we had an arrangement."

"I did my part when I carried your undead ass outta Purgatory, Benny. I went those other times because I felt it was still part of the debt I owed you for getting me back topside but that was it. You're a vampire, I'm a hunter and we're on two different ends of the spectrum," Dean hoped he sounded reasonable and not desperate but right then he really didn't care. "We've been back a few months so you should've adjusted. You don't need me and…"

"And you don't need me anymore since you have baby brother back under your wing," Benny nodded, tightening his grip and having to admit that he was impressed by Sam when the boy fought back the muffled cry of pain as his hair was twisted. "Ain't that simple, Dean."

That had been what the hunter was afraid of from the start but had foolishly allowed himself to think it would be. "This is between us then, not Sammy. He's got nothing to do with this or us. Let him go," Dean knew that wouldn't happen but he was quickly trying to figure out a way to buy the time he'd need to get his brother out of this mess.

"See now, that's another point where we disagree on cause I happen to think Sammy has a lot to do with us," Benny gave another hard jerk when the head under his hand tried to pull away at the use of the name only Dean had ever been allowed to use for his brother and he also heard the way the older man drew in a sharp breath at its use.

"You and me went through a lot down there, Dean. We fought through Hell and survived but now you seem to think it's okay to ditch me for a boy who couldn't defend himself from me," Benny released the grip on Sam's hair to switch to squeezing the boy's shoulder until finally the pain became too much and a cry of pain escaped. "I don't think it's gonna be that simple."

Dean's other hand clenched when he heard the small cry and his anger mixed with fear now. "Damn it, Benny! If you touch my brother I'll…"

"Kill me, Dean?" Benny smiled, amused by the threat since he understand as Dean did that right then he had the upper hand. "You won't make a move so long as I have Sam under lock and key and…it's been a day or so since I paid him a visit and truth be told…he ain't lookin' so good, brother."

Benny's habit of calling Dean 'brother' had been a source of friction between the Winchesters since it was further proof to Sam that something else was coming too close to replacing him in his older brother's life again, much like Castiel had done once.

Dean had never once corrected the vampire but neither had he admitted to his little brother how much the name bothered the hell out of him if he'd been honest with himself…especially now when he knew that Benny was using it to strike out on Sam on a different level.

"Put him on the phone," his voice had gone low and husky as he tried to keep it level so neither former friend or little brother would know how much Dean wanted to shake. "Benny, put Sam on the damn phone because I'm not going anywhere until I talk to him. Now!"

Pausing because he knew the wait would only piss the hunter off more, Benny finally yanked the gag out of Sam's mouth before pulled his head up. "Big brother wants to talk to you," he informed the boy, holding the phone down. "I think he wants to make sure you're alive and not…well, can't go there now can we?"

Dean was pissed and practically vibrating with emotions he hadn't allowed himself to feel in years and probably only because he was afraid his legs wouldn't hold him did he stay sitting in the Impala rather than get out to stalk the roadside.

"…De'n?"

The whisper soft, hoarse voice went straight through Dean, the anger fading for the moment as he pressed his fingertips to his closed eyelids while trying to control his voice before he spoke.

"Sammy," the simple use of his brother's nickname and Dean heard the soft breath hitch. "You okay, little brother?" he had doubts but needed to hear it from Sam in some form. "Sammy?"

There was a long pause as if Sam was trying to find his voice or decide how to answer and when he did it was so quiet and ragged that if Dean wouldn't have had his phone pressed right up to his ear he would've missed it. "No…hurts…"

"Okay then," Dean let out a breath while bottling up the rest of what he could and wanted to say right then because he knew if his brother willingly admitted to being hurt, saying that he was in some form of pain and not trying to cover it then the situation was worse than even he feared. "I'm coming for you, Sammy," he assured the younger man. "It's gonna be okay and…Sam? I'm…sorry."

Sam heard the quiet unspoken guilt in his brother's voice and wanted to say more, to try to warn him not to come, to just let him go but the unexpected pain on his neck made him scream until something was shoved deep into his mouth.

"Sam!" Dean felt the blood rush to his head at the agony in his brother's voice and he slammed a fist onto the dash in helpless rage. "Leave him alone, Benny!"

"That depends on how quickly you get here, brother," Benny replied, wiping his mouth with a finger with a slow smile as the cursing man on the phone. "See, ever since your hunter buddy pushed my buttons a bit too far it's not quite as easy to go back on the bag stuff but it isn't just me that's a threat to your precious little brother, Dean. Boy burns easily doesn't he?"

The casual question caused his already twisting heart and gut to stop, not understanding and not liking it. "Where are you, you bastard?" he demanded tightly, having a hard time getting Sam's voice and the pain of that scream out of his head because he was only too aware of what might have caused it. "Tell me and I'll be there but Benny, I'm telling you right now…if you hurt my brother too badly…if you touch him all bets are off and it might kill be but I'll see you dead before I die."

"Guess we'll just have to see about that, brother," Benny replied smoothly, waiting a beat to add. "You remember the dock where you met me that one night? You come to last warehouse on the dock and well hopefully Sam'll still be breathing…if he ain't cooked. You hurry on up now, Dean. I don't have the most patience these days and your brother…well, let's just say I'm getting really interested in seeing if he tastes as good as his blood smells."

"Benny!" Dean yelled but heard the click of the phone disconnecting and was left with his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest and the combined emotions swirling in his stomach until he finally had to twist to wrench open the Impala's door to loose what food had been on his stomach.

There was no question in Dean's mind what had happened and it didn't involve his brother not being able to protect himself. No, it involved Sam trying not to upset Dean more by attacking his 'friend' and leaving himself wide open without realizing it.

By not telling Sam the truth, by allowing his brother to think that he would willingly choose a vampire over the boy he'd grown up looking after, Dean had left Sam wide open for this to happen because his brother wouldn't have had any clue that the smooth talking, charming vampire could, when the need suited him, be a cold blooded bastard.

All of Benny's lines of he drank blood and not people worked well except Dean knew that wasn't always true. Sure, the monsters in Purgatory hadn't been people or not all of them had been but Dean had the scars to prove that the vampire wasn't always so choosy and he feared this for Sam worst of all.

Finally able to straighten up, he slammed the door while considering the route and the time it would take him to get from South Dakota to the damn dock in Louisiana where he'd first been called by Benny shortly after getting out of Purgatory…the first time his brother had learned about the vampire and the first time Dean had started to lie to Sam this time.

Even if he pushed himself and the Impala to the limit it would still take him well over a day, closer to two before he could get there and then that meant walking straight into the trap he was fairly certain Benny had planned for him.

Dean had been a hunter since his Dad first put a gun in his head and told him to shoot first and ask questions later so he wasn't stupid enough not to know the vampire was using Sam merely as bait to pull him in because Benny was pissed that Dean had ended the so-called friendship.

A year trapped in Hell's backyard had given Dean an idea of how the vampire thought, how he'd probably react but it also gave Benny the same advantage because he knew how Dean would react, especially if Sam was placed in the middle.

Rage, fury, uncaring mayhem was fine and dandy while trying to stay alive in Purgatory but it wouldn't work quite the same when the monster in Dean's sights was holding his little brother hostage because while Dean's concern for himself still wasn't high, his concern for Sam's safety would always top out at a hundred percent.

Starting the Impala again and shoving back into drive, a quick look and Dean was squealing tires with a silent apology to the car as he made a tight U-turn to send him back down highway.

Thoughts of Sam, the pain he sounded like he was in and Benny's cryptic words caused Dean's fists to clench on the wheel as his mind spun in several directions, trying to think of a plan…any plan, that might get him an upper hand until he could at least free Sam or get his brother safe before he had to deal with Benny.

Vampires weren't anything new to the Winchester brothers. Dean had fought them, killed them…hell, for a short time he'd been one. Though that was a time that he still tried to ignore for obvious reasons but it was the thought of Sam being turned that caused him to driver a little faster.

Sam being in danger, being hurt seriously or even drained for blood were all worries for Dean but it wasn't his biggest one because he knew that Benny was well aware of how important Sam was to him.

He'd made the mistake while in Purgatory of telling Benny about Sam, of their lives and what each had given up for the other so he knew the vampire wouldn't be above using that against him now and that meant he wouldn't hesitate to turn Sam into a damn vampire just to torture Dean because it would kill the elder Winchester if he was forced to kill Sam if he couldn't cure him.

Dean was aware that he had miles of open road to plan but he also knew he wouldn't be able to carry an obvious weapon into the warehouse.

Benny wasn't stupid. He'd expect Dean to come in with anything he could carry and if he did then he wouldn't stand a chance of even getting close to Sam but the thought of walking into an obvious trap literally naked didn't sit right with him either.

Going in alone also didn't feel right and that's what bothered him. He and Sam had been covering each other's backs for as long back as Dean could remember. Even if they were fighting, he still know Sam would be there even if Sam thought he no longer believed that now.

The problem was, aside from the fact that Benny would never allow someone else even close to the warehouse, with Bobby dead there were so few hunters that Dean trusted to have his back in something as important as this job.

A scroll through his phone hade him snarling. Except for Garth, there wasn't a single person still alive that Dean would trust to have his back or that he'd possibly trust to save Sam if this went bad for him.

Dean and Sam had few people in their circle that they ever trusted in that way and the ones that they did have were all long since dead…except for…

A name and face flashed through the hunter's grasping mind and before he could even begin to tell himself how stupid this plan was or that he'd probably get turned down flat he was hitting speed dial of a number he never thought he'd have use for when it was put in his phone last month.

Hearing the phone ring twice before it was picked up with a clearly unhappy growl, Dean blew out a breath and took a leap of faith that his once strong friendship, something that he'd thought long gone until last month, would hold true one more time.

"Sam's been grabbed by a vampire pissed at me. I'm on my way to get him back come hell or high water and I…I need help. I'm shooting you the coordinates by text. It's in Louisiana. I'll understand if you don't want to help but if you don't hear from me again…just get Sammy out for me," he disconnected before the sputtering voice could agree or not.

Dean knew the man and knew he'd at least agree to help Sam and in the end that was all Dean truly wanted from this.

No, that wasn't quite true. Dean wanted Sam out of this safe and healthy but he also wanted to make sure he corrected the mistake he'd made when he ever agreed to bring Benny back out to begin with.

Though Dean also planned to make the vampire pay for every damn ounce of pain his little brother has been put through. "Hang on, Sammy," he whispered to the now silent car while hoping his brother could do just that.

**Louisiana, a dock somewhere at the same time:**

Disconnecting the phone, Benny considered stepping on it to break it but held off as he suddenly decided he could use it later on much more effectively.

"Figure Dean'll be here sometime late night or early tomorrow since he's got a ways to come," the vampire commented casually like he was having a normal type of conversation. "Think you'll make it 'til then, Sammy?"

Sam wouldn't give an answer even if he wasn't gagged at the moment. He wouldn't give the vampire the satisfaction even if it meant more pain coming because he'd learned early on in this mess that Benny didn't like to be ignored, especially when he was intentionally causing pain to get a reaction.

He was already in more pain than he'd ever willingly admit to and he hated having to give that little bit to Dean when he'd spoken to him but he'll blame the pain and shock for that lapse in judgment.

The pain he was in now was low compared to what he figured would be coming soon and since he was in agony that was saying a lot.

Sam knew he was in shock but was glad for that in some way since being in shock took some of the edge off every new injury inflicted. It didn't, right then, keep him from hating himself for letting this happen.

The younger man had been distracted. This would be one of the first times since the Leviathans burned the place down that either he or Dean had been back.

The yard with the cars still mostly remained the same except that it was more overgrown with weeds. The house still stood and Sam had been surprised to have found it sturdy enough that a good section of the front half survived the fire.

He'd allowed his mind to get distracted by memories of spending a lot of his childhood here or of thinking of this place as home for him and Dean these past few years.

Most of the books had been lost to the fire but after a lot of searching, as well as a lot of cursing Dean for leaving this to him Sam had forgotten the first rule he'd been taught…never ignore the senses that always could warn him of trouble.

Benny's appearance at the former front door had been a shock and he hadn't gone with his first instinct of grabbing a blade since Sam was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The vampire was Dean's friend. He'd been what had kept his brother alive in Purgatory and Sam knew he'd been giving Dean an extra hard time over it but it was more Sam's own dislike of Benny, his concern at how easy Dean seemed to accept him that truly bothered him.

Dean had agreed to cut the ties with Benny and Sam knew his brother had done so. He also thought that Dean was more than a little relieved to have stopped it but he hadn't wanted to ask since that might've started a fight and lately he and his older brother had been getting more at ease with one another again.

It was because he didn't want to upset Dean by refusing his friend entrance that Sam had ignored the tugs of warning that were playing in the back of his skull.

However it only took a couple innocent statements and a much larger burst of hunter warning to tell him that he'd made a huge mistake but before Sam could react or go for a weapon he was slammed through the burned up remains of the old heavy desk.

Sam had a height advantage but he didn't have the vampire's strength or speed. He'd been able to break the hold once but a burning in his side prevent him from getting to his feet as quickly as he normally would have and soon lost consciousness with the smooth voice calmly explaining what was happening.

Bait. He was being used as bait to lure Dean in because it seems like Benny hadn't been as agreeable to losing his 'friend' as he'd let on and planned on forcing his brother's hand in a choice that made Sam a little uneasy.

The first bite had come as a shock since Sam had nearly been convinced by his brother that Benny really didn't drink living blood.

It hadn't been a lot but enough to force his already shocked body deeper and before Sam could fight more his head had been slammed into the fireplace mantle with such force that he lost consciousness.

When he woke up, Sam wasn't sure of much except he knew he was no longer at the junkyard and he was in trouble.

Waking up with a headache bad enough that the smallest movement nearly made his stomach revolt told him he had a concussion and probably if he went with the way a thin line of blood trailed down the side of his face he had more than just a bump.

Hearing Benny tell Dean they were in Louisiana startled him because Sam hadn't thought he'd been unconscious that long and figured he'd been drugged or something to keep him out so the vampire could get him from South Dakota to somewhere in Louisiana.

Sam also knew he would've needed to be drugged to keep him unable to fight while Benny got him inside the nearly empty warehouse, stripped to the waist and tied completely to the metal chair that was secured into the concrete floor.

A quick flex of his arms told Sam that he wasn't freeing himself anytime soon because not only had single ropes been tied to his upper arms then ran through the chair back to draw them back further than normal but then the ropes had been wrapped around his arms so tight he was slowly losing the feeling in them before finally binding his wrists together.

"Don't think you can get out of these ropes but just in case, let's take one more precaution to keepin' you where I want you, Sammy," Benny had seen the slight movement as he reached into a small bag he had tossed to the floor to hold up what he removed, smiling at the way shock blown pupils widened slightly. "I picked up a few things before I paid you a visit."

The vampire had removed his usual dark blue peacoat due to the stifling heat of the warehouse as he bent behind the chair to use more force than necessary to force Sam's thumbs apart so he could attach the thumbcuffs to each one,

"Now unless you're plannin' on breakin' more than a few bones even if you could get those ropes loose, I think that'll hold you still," he stood to cuff the younger man roughly on the back of his head, hearing the small moan and smelling fresh blood start to trickle through Sam's hairline. "You wondering why I'm doin' this?"

Refusing to look up from here he was letting his chin rest on his chest, Sam's eyes suddenly went wide in pain as fingers gripped the barely healed over bite mark on his neck that had been reopened recently.

Sam suspected he knew why even if it didn't make sense fully to him. He assumed that Benny and Dean were good enough friends that the vampire would understand his brother's desire to make a clean break since it was obvious how on edge Dean had been since returning from Purgatory.

Dean had assured him that Benny had taken the news that he'd no longer help him well enough even if it seemed a little odd to Sam that for the next week his older brother had been more watchful, more on guard as if expecting some form of attack and he's hardly let Sam out of his sight either.

Though the younger man had brushed all that off to his brother still being on edge from Purgatory and he was still expecting Sam to walk away…now he began to wonder if maybe Dean hadn't been worried about this happening.

"Y'see, your big brother and I had a deal. Sure we had each other's back down in Purgatory because there were critters down there that would've loved to have gotten their claws into Dean and sure, I'll admit he came outta that a bit scarred in some places since on occasion he wasn't quite agreeable to holding still for when I needed him to but after a while he got used to it," Benny smiled, feeling the way Sam's shoulders had gone rigid as those words slowly sank in.

"See, down there in the depths of Purgatory I didn't always feel the need to feed like I do back up here but it's natural for a vamp to feed and down there it really didn't matter what I fed on…except those damn Leviathans. I had to be mighty desperate to show down on one of them," he went on, moving around so he could kneel in front to check the bindings on Sam's legs.

"The few humans we got down there didn't last long and I hadn't really fed on humans in a long time…until Dean showed up and one night after an especially hard fight with some kind of monster I decided to see if human tasted like I remembered," Benny looked up at the muffled sound, smirking at the look of disgusted hate shown on the hunter's bruised face.

"What? You shocked cause you think your brother let me fed from him? First few times there wasn't any letting about it. Dean fought me good and hard but he'd only human and was exhausted, so it wasn't much of a match and he learned after about the fourth time I nearly broke his arm to just stay still and let me feed from him," he removed heavy leather shackles from the bag to add to the ropes already holding Sam's ankles to the chair legs after removing the boots. "That's where the trouble started now."

Sam was trying not to hyperventilate since he could only breathe through his nose but it was hard as he listened to the damn vampire brag about attacking and forcing Dean to submit to letting him feed from him.

Dean had told him, hell Benny himself had said that he didn't drink humans so what the hell…of course no one said he didn't drink hunters and to most vampires or other monsters hunters weren't considered human any more than vampires were to a hunter.

Sick and furious, Sam tried to strain against the bonds holding him to the chair only to nearly gag at the hard fist that plowed into his already sore midsection.

"I want you alive when Dean gets here. Don't keep pissin' me off," Benny growled, that smooth voice not losing the smoothness but going edgier as he went back to what he was doing. "Dean thought carryin' me outta there, helpin' me a few times and the debt was paid. Technically it's true but I happen to think it comes in real handy havin' a hunter on speed dial or for fast food," he chuckled, amused by the boy's honest outrage. "Of course the few times he's done it since being back…it was to protect you."

Sam's whole body stilled, eyes already mostly pupil narrowed as his suddenly blurry thoughts recalled those few times after Dean had helped Benny that his brother had avoided him all together and he'd thought it was due to Dean's anger over what he'd believed was Sam's desertion.

"Dean ain't told you half about what really happened down there, Sam. He said it's because he didn't want you to know and I ain't decided if he's protectin' you from knowing what he did to survive or he don't want you knowin' what happened to him," Benny eased back to watch the glassy eyes. "He wants to protect you from the big bad world even if he thinks you ran out on him this time but I'm not quite ready to let go of him yet so your brother's got a choice to make and either way…it won't be good for you."

Flashes of recent memory hit Sam because being tied like he was to the chair was a bad thing since he was still recovering from injuries inflicted last month at the hands of the woman he'd allowed his brother to believe he stopped hunting for.

Sam had just gotten back to the point where he felt safe being without his brother's constant shadow and he was shoving those memories down with a passion when he grunted as something cold was slid under each of his bare feet.

"The one thing I learned about Dean early on was that he'd protect you regardless of what he had to give up. I mean, the boy sold his soul to for you so I figure agreeing to a few of my terms shouldn't be too bad, especially if he wants you to live," Benny stood up to glance at the ceiling where the sun could be seen just starting to raise through one of the many skylights in the roof.

"Of course, I ain't gonna make it easy on him since I didn't appreciate him thinking he could just say that was all and expect me to let him drop our agreement," he seemed to be examining something as he looked between the ceiling and Sam. "Oh, the agreement, I didn't mention what it was."

Benny walked over to the wall to begin to fiddle with some buttons and chains until he was satisfied and then he walked back over to stand in front of Sam, kneeling closer until he was right in the young man's face. "First time back, while he was helping me take care of my maker, I mentioned after you and I met that it be interesting to see what you tasted like and damn, I had that boy in my face just like the first day we met down there.

"Dean agreed to keep helping me out when I needed him to, just until I got used to being topside again, so long as I steered clear of you. That means, no hurting you or…feeding," he chuckled as he turned Sam's head to view the marks on his neck and shoulder. "Of course, he didn't say anything about sampling but I don't wanna drain you, Sam. See, I have something a bit more…interesting in mind for you while you wait for Dean to show up."

Stepping back after licking the newest trail of blood off of Sam's face, letting the boy jerk his head away and tempted to remove the gag since he didn't want him to choke if he threw up cause Sam's face was paling more by the minute and Benny wasn't sure if it was because of the shock, what he was saying or something else.

"There was a reason I chose this warehouse to bring you to," the vampire motioned up then waited for Sam's eyes to slowly focus on what he'd spent a week rigging up while planning his move on his friend.

While the warehouse had several skylights, it only had dead center and one a little more to the side. High up in the rafters, attached to a complex system of rigging and chains were four or five large mirrors that seemed to angled in a way that no matter how the sun rose and moved it would always hit a mirror and shine down to the center of the room…right where Sam's chair was secured.

"This sinking in yet?" Benny ran a finger down Sam's face to his chest while intentionally pushing on a fist size bruise in the middle of his sternum, enjoying the pain it caused the hunter.

Then he grabbed a handful of hair to pull Sam's head back to point up to better explain his now very dangerous position. "See, the sun is gonna reflect in those mirrors all day until it sets late tonight and those mirrors are rigged to shine and enhance the heat and light of the sun as it shines down on…you.

"This metal warehouse is gonna get as hot as a sauna in Hell, though I'm sure you know what that's like, in the middle of the day. Those mirrors are gonna be having the sun shining on you hot enough to burn and…those tiny mirrors I put under your feet…well, they're gonna give a whole new meaning to the term hotfoot," Benny smiled calmly, feeling Sam try to move and shook his head.

"Nope. That's why I tied you this way. You're gonna have to sit here on a metal chair that'll get hot as sin on your bare skin while the rest of you that's exposed will start to cook and by the time Dean gets here…you should be pretty well baked and broiled real nice like for him to find," Benny ran his fingers over the hunter's neck with a bite mark covered in dried blood. "Guess I should take a snack before you're too well done cause blood that's over hot don't taste so goof."

Mild panic forming at the description of what was going to happen the higher the sun rose in the clear, cloudless sky, Sam strained to find a way to free himself only to scream through the gag as searing pain came in his neck as Benny sank all his fangs in deep this time.

The fear building was huge as Sam understood that being drained of blood would also weaken his ability to withstand the heat and pain he'd be forced to endure in the coming hours but despite that he still wished Dean wouldn't come because it hurt him to think of what his brother was walking into.

He and Dean had been getting closer again, especially after Sam's kidnapping and assault by Amelia and her friends last month so the thought of his brother being lured into a trap with him as bait hurt Sam almost as much as the teeth gnawing on his neck at the moment were.

Pulling back before he took too much, Benny wiped his mouth on the back of his hand with a smile. "You should be grateful I'm not just turning you, Sammy. Think how much that would hurt Dean if he had to kill his own little brother," he cracked another fist into Sam's jaw before waving a hand in front of his face. "Damn, getting hot in here already. I think I'll go someplace cool while we wait for Dean. You don't go nowhere now, y'hear?"

Waiting until he heard the metal bang of the door, Sam slowly let his head fall until his chin was on his chest even though it made his now bleeding neck hurt more.

He tried once again to work at the ropes binding him but found that the more he struggled the tighter they became until he felt the ropes on his arms actually begin to cut into his skin but Sam understood that the hotter the warehouse and chair got the ropes would be the least of his worries.

His chest and arms were bare against metal that would heat up fast and he tried to see if his bare feet would move enough to at least allow him to avoid direct contact with the mirrors under them but moaned at the discovery that he couldn't move in the littlest bit.

Sam had survived the Cage but he feared that this heat would be much worse because he was helpless against it much like he'd been helpless in the Cage and helpless last month.

Dean had been able to save him but he feared that this time his brother would be too late or…the choice Benny would force Dean to make too much for him and Sam would rather be dead than to know he was the cause of his brother sacrificing himself in any way, but especially to a vampire.

The shock and injuries were making Sam sleepy and while he didn't want to lose consciousness again out of fear of what he'd face once waking up he found that he couldn't fight the urge to close his eyes and as blackness crept in, it was his brother's voice assuring him it would be fine that he slipped under too.

**Twenty-some hours later:**

Dean was swearing as he slowly pulled the Impala up to the warehouse Benny had mentioned. He didn't bother hiding it or pretending since he knew probably the vampire would know when he was close anyway.

The air, heat and humidity rolling off the water nearly choked him as he stepped out of the car to glance around, not surprised the area was deserted but wishing he could get rid of the uneasy feeling in the back of his head.

He'd gotten rid of the denim jacket hours ago while the flannel over shirt went as soon as he left the car leaving him only the black t-shirt.

Normally he'd have kept the jacket if for no other reason than to hold weapons or something but he wasn't stupid enough to think his 'friend' wouldn't try to search him and the less time the vampire would have his hands on Dean the better it was with the hunter.

Not that Dean would walk into an obvious trap without anything. He had his switchblade in his hip pocket while a knife was stuck in the sheath in his boot while his other boot held the one ace card he'd take in with him.

Surprised that he hadn't been greeted by the honey and whiskey voice of the Cajun vampire, Dean squared his shoulders as he headed for the door to the warehouse he'd been directed to.

Pulling open the door, wincing at the noise the damn thing made, the hunter stepped inside and wasn't sure if he wanted to step back out or choke right there.

The first step took him into something that reminded him of what an oven at five hundred degrees probably felt like it was that hot inside and that was with the sun going down so he'd hate to have been in here when it was at its hottest. The next thing that hit him was the smell.

Dean had been hunting a long time. He'd been to Hell for forty years…or four months and even Purgatory and he couldn't recall ever smelling anything like this except in Hell.

The combination of blood, sweat, body odors and more pungently…fear always made him sick and that was before his eyes adjusted to the change in light and he choked on his own spit.

"Sam!"

The second his eyes landed on the sight of his little brother tied to the metal chair in the middle of the room surrounded by mirrors that must have been used to direct the rays of the sun right down onto Sam, Dean broke into a run until he dropped to his knees on the hard concrete floor that he could still feel the heat from.

"Sammy?" cautiously, Dean reached out to gently lift his brother's slumped head and felt like matching the groan that came out soft and muffled from behind the gag and then he realized why Sam, not even conscious, had made the sound and he felt sick and angry.

Sam's bare skin looked blood red from being exposed to the sun like he'd been. His chest and face had clearly gotten the worst of it but as Dean went to reach back to find the ropes holding his brother's arms he clamped his eyes shut before looking to see why his fingers touched something wet and sticky. "_Sonuvabitch_."

The sun directed by the mirrors had burned Sam's skin but the superhot metal had literally burned and scalded his back and arms where any exposed skin had come into contact with the metal.

Not sure where he could touch without causing the burned skin, leather to the touch almost, to crack and bleed, Dean was reaching for his switchblade when he glanced down and snarled at the sight of the bleeding blistering burns on Sam's feet from where the heat of the mirrors under them must have felt like an inferno on his bare feet.

Throwing those mirrors across the room, Dean no longer cared if he was heard or not as he used one hand to gently lift Sam's face again, trying not to hurt his brother but wanting to get the damn gag out first.

"Sam? Sammy, hey?" keeping his voice at a lower tone than he honestly felt like, Dean didn't miss the dried tear tracks on his little brother's face or the dried blood on his mouth from where he must have bit his tongue and lips against the agony he had to have gone through for so long.

Keeping Sam's head supported, he began to carefully cut the ropes but soon realized he'd need both hands since the ropes had been tied so tight that many of them had actually cut into his brother's skin and that Dean didn't want to imagine taking care of right then.

A soft whimper had his eyes snapping back to the front just in time to see Sam's eyes begin to flutter under his lashes and Dean laid a gentle hand on the center of his chest but pulled back the moment the whimper turned into a choked off cry of pain.

"It's me, Sam," he spoke lowly, keeping his tone soft as to not scare the kid more than he probably was since Dean figured this would also have brought back memories of last month when his brother had been drugged to the point of numbness by a sociopathic bitch. "Hey, little brother. You're gonna be alright. You hear me, Sammy? You're going to be fine."

Dean kept speaking in a low soothing voice like he always did when needing to keep his brother calm but it also helped to keep him steady since he felt like exploding in a rage at even the slightest thought of what his brother had been going through.

Then he shifted to catch sight of the bite marks and his temper soared to new heights upon realizing Benny had fed on Sam, more than once from the looks of the bites and tried to hold his anger in until he could get Sam out of this oven.

"Hang on, Sammy," he had to take a deep breath to stop his hands from shaking when he once again heard Sam make a sound and watched as eyes, blown wide with shock, tried to open to his voice. "Sammy."

Burning pain brought Sam around again but it was the gentle touch and low husky voice that forced him awake as a hand touched his face with the barest touch but it still was like agony to Sam until he was slowly able to focus through blurry watery vision on his brother.

"… …" he lips moved but no sound could make it past his throat that had dried out hours ago from heat and screaming. "…"

"Shh, don't try to talk until I get some water in you," Dean had noticed what Sam was doing and cursed his own stupidity for not bringing even a bottle of water with him. "I'm going to get you loose and then I'll get you outta here before I deal with Benny."

Moving to begin cutting the multiple ropes loose on Sam's arms and wrists, he bit off the curse at the thumbcuffs and chose to start there in order to try to get the blood flowing back in his brother's hands slowly.

"I'm sorry this happened, Sammy," he spoke quietly, beginning to feel more uneasy the longer he didn't know where the vampire was hiding. "Sam? Where's Benny?" he asked, feeling more than seeing the rapid jerk at the name and chewed his lip while swearing to make the bastard pay for this. "It's going to be fine, little brother."

"You think he believes that now, Dean?"

Dean swore violently that he hadn't heard or sensed Benny's approach until Sam made a noise. Gripping the switchblade in his fist, the hunter was whirling on his knee to swing the blade to at least buy him time to get to his feet when something hard slashed across his head.

Seeing stars, feeling pain and hearing a ragged cry from Sam, Dean felt himself fall to the concrete but couldn't see anything but blurry images until it cleared up to show up a smiling Benny bringing a heavy pipe crashing down on his head again.

"Hey, brother," was the last thing Dean heard other than a muted, dry and choked scream from Sam as blackness reigned in on him.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Choose or Lose**

**Warnings: **_I'll warn for violence and language in this one. Nothing too graphic. Oh, not sure if this requires a warning since it's not a main character but minor character death in this one._

**Chapter Two**

A pounding head that was worse than all of his hangovers combined woke Dean Winchester up. Rolling over to feel warm concrete under his hands instead of soft sheets made the hunter's mind begin to snap back to reality with a sickening jerk.

Sam. Benny. Benny grabbing Sam. Seeing his little brother nearly scalded and burned from intense exposure to direct sunlight reflected in mirrors and then the pipe crashing down on his skull as he tried to free Sam.

"_Sonuvabitch_!" he groaned, feeling his head want to explode and his stomach nearly emptied when he moved too quickly before freezing as it dawned on him that he could move.

Dean expected to wake up tied or somehow restrained to prevent him from going for his former friend's throat the moment he was conscious.

Finding that he wasn't tied or even cuffed and it appeared that he could move both surprised and worried him as he slowly opened one eye to see that he was still laying on the concrete floor of the warehouse he'd entered but when he moved his head a bit more the concern notched up as soon as he realized while the metal chair was still secured to the floor…Sam was no longer tied to it nor could he see his brother anywhere else in his immediate line of sight.

"Looking for Sammy?"

The whiskey and honey coated voice felt and sounded like a bomb going off to Dean's sensitive head but it only took a couple seconds before the pain was shoved aside in favor of the fury he was feeling and the growl that came out was something he hadn't felt the need for since getting out of Purgatory.

"You don't ever call him that," he snarled, blinking once to fully clear his vision before sitting up, eyes narrowing at the metal chair and once again feeling his gut churn when he saw blood and what he hoped wasn't skin on the chair back where Sam's bare skin had touched. "Where's Sam, Benny?"

Watching the hunter as he'd been doing for the past several hours since he'd taken the precaution of adding a mild sedative in addition to using the pipe to knock him out, the vampire moved a hand from the chair he was straddling.

"Oh, he's around," he smiled, looking around the warehouse slowly before finally letting his eyes move to somewhere past Dean. "Don't you worry none about your little brother, Dean. I know you didn't want him getting' anymore hurt than he was so I made sure he'd be someplace nice, secure, tight and…warm while we have our talk."

"Say what?" Dean frowned, making his body get up from the floor while keeping both eyes on the vampire's too calm face and not missing the subtle looks that he'd picked up on in Purgatory. "Stop screwin' around, Benny. You wanted me here. You got me here now let my brother go," he weaved a little upon standing but got his feet under him to slowly see where Benny was gazing and turning carefully while still managing to keep at least one eye on the vampire in case he chose to attack while he was distracted by… "No."

The shock that he'd somehow been kept unconscious until the sun was once again burning at its hottest was one shock to the hunter but the final blow to his already horrified system was when he followed Benny's gaze to where the warehouse's big bay doors toward the rear had been opened to have a clear view of the back lot where a rather short almost coffin looking metal box was sitting surrounded by a group of mirrors on stands.

It took all of ten seconds for Dean to realize what was going on. "Damn it, Benny!" he snapped, taking a step to run only to be shoved back when he was reminded of the vampire's speed. "Sam's been hurt enough by this crap! He'll die for sure in that thing! Let him go…now!"

"You put Sam in this position, Dean," Benny remarked, cocking his head as he gazed at the hunter, not missing the looking of frantic concern building in those intense green eyes. "We had a deal. Sam'd be safe so long as you and I kept that deal goin'. You're the one who chose to stop it so…what happens to him is your fault, brother."

"_Don't_ call me that," Dean's voice dropped low, a flurry of varying emotions surging through him right then as he could still see Sam earlier and his chest tightened at the thought of his brother in that damn box being heated to more than normal due to the mirrors. "Not anymore cause after this, after you went after him…after you've burned him…we're through, Benny.

"What happened in Purgatory…I did only because I needed to back up here but do not ever think I gave in to being used for a quick snack because I didn't," the elder Winchester still shuddered at how many nights since escaping Purgatory that he'd woken up to the feeling of fangs breaking his skin and the inability to break free.

"Purgatory was hell for me and I admit I probably wouldn't have survived without you and that's why I tried to help you out when we got back but giving you some bagged blood, helping you kill the guy that turned you was to finish the debt I owed you but the rest of it, you know why I did the rest of it," Dean had backed up to gain some space but couldn't keep his eyes off that metal coffin.

A better look told him the thing was barely five feet in length and sure as hell too short to fit Sam's 6'4" frame without a lot of bending and he tried to avoid even the thought of what that meant.

"I told Sam that's when we started having trouble," Benny shook his head, offering a soft chuckle while watching the hunter much like he had the first time they'd met. "Y'know, that boy wasn't real happy when he found out you let me feed from you, Dean."

A small wave of nausea welled up in him because that was one of the things that Dean had never wanted his brother to learn, for obvious reasons but his head jerked up to glare. "'Let'?" he mocked, snorting. "Let you drink from me? I remember not being too willing most of those times, you son of a bitch! I seem to recall you threatening to rip my throat out the first time if I didn't hold still and the only way you got close to do it the last few damn times is because I refused to risk my brother!

"You broke the deal first, Benny, when you killed Martin," he reminded the vampire, biting his lip as several scenarios ran through his head that would allow him to free Sam and none of them had a very positive outlook for him. "I know the old kook crossed the line by going after Elizabeth but what you did to him screamed outta control. I gave you plenty of time to get used to being topside but it was never in that deal that I'd always be at your damn beck and call."

Seeing the brief look of anger cross Benny's face warned Dean to be cautious but his concern for Sam took care of what little he might have used in the common sense department. "Sam was off limits. You knew I didn't want him learning anything about down there or what I did or…"

"You mean when you ripped that 'shifter apart with your bare hands because it dared come at you wearing your little brother's skin?" Benny smirked at that memory and the way Dean was tensing. "Or what they did to you when we got separated that one time? Or that you pretty much agreed to be a blood whore to keep him safe up here or…"

Dean lunged as his temper soared at the, grabbing the vampire by the front of his shirt to jerk him closer, not even considering how dangerous that move was. "That was never the goddamn agreement!" he hissed, bile rising up at even the suggestion but accepting what his next choice probably would be. "As a last resort, if you ever were out too long or anything then I said maybe I'd let you take it from me but never on a daily basis and sure as hell never from my little brother, damn you!"

"You might wanna rethink that choice there, Dean," Benny spoke slowly, his accent low and thick as he easily freed his shirt to give a shove to Dean's chest while shooting a look outside. "See, you were unconscious nearly twelve hours or so which means Sam's been in that box pretty near the whole damn time and he wasn't too good when I squeezed him in there…oh, no broken bones though I thought I might have to but his legs tend to bend pretty good…huh-huh, listen up good now, brother."

He raised a hand to still the furious hunter while looking from Dean to the metal coffin that served as Sam's prison and possible coffin. "You want your little brother? You want to get to him before he cooks or dies from lack of air and heat out there in the tiny metal box? Well, there's a couple ways we can play this to see who gets what they want from this. Your choice, Dean. You hear me out or we keep doing this until it's too late to help him."

"What?" Dean growled, fingers flexing impatiently as he felt the warehouse heating up from the sun outside and hating to imagine what the box would feel like. "What the hell do you want, Benny? Let me get Sam outta there first and…"

"No, see he's my leverage for you doing this," Benny smiled, explaining. "There are two ways you can get to Sam, Dean. The first is a bit more complicated since it in means you gettin' through me and by the time you do that I can pretty much promise your baby brother will be dead. The other way is the easiest but has some conditions…namely for the next six months you pick up where we left off down there."

If he hadn't already been lightheaded from heat, that condition right there would've dropped Dean to his ass in shock as he stared at the vampire as if he'd grown three more heads. "Whose blood did you drink last, Benny? A drunk guy with delusions? Cause that has to be it if you think for one damn second that I'd agree to let you use me for six months for blood or whatever," he glared but fighting the cold knot of fear that to save his brother he might have to agree. "You think Sammy would ever…"

"Oh, for the duration he'd have to be kept locked up but at least you'd know he was safe…might even let him see you once in a while," Benny shrugged, seeing the moment it finally sank in to his former friend. "Six months so long if it means saving him?"

"You want goddamn slaves!" Dean felt sick realizing the suggestions, and how close he was to considering it if he didn't understand that even if he agreed the vampire would never allow Sam to live and he'd be dead before letting Sam suffer as anyone's prisoner again, not after the boy's last year with the psycho bitch form Hell.

Dean had been sacrificing things to protect his brother nearly all his life and he'd done a lot of things that he wasn't proud of if it meant shielding Sam or having a way to supply food or a roof over their heads but what Benny was suggesting might have just found the end of a very shaky line…a line that he never thought he'd reach but that didn't mean he'd stop fighting.

"I'll take the first choice cause I swore if you ever touched my brother I'd send you back to Purgatory," he now hated his choice to not bring any weapon in with him rather than his switchblade which he could see on the floor.

"Well, then I guess that brings us to the last thing," Benny slowly cracked his knuckles but still hadn't showed his fangs yet. "You killin' me is the only other way to save Sam from bakin' out there, brother but you don't kill me…if I put you down then you watch Sam fry out there and your ass is mine for so long as I say. Agreed?"

Dean was hot headed and rash at the best of times it seemed but he wasn't stupid enough not to understand the risks he was undertaking but in the end this way was the only way that he could see that he could help his brother…assuming he lived.

"Keep the teeth in," he growled, forcing himself to try to focus on what was in front of him and not what his brother was suffering outside in that damn box while hoping his plan to have some form of back up would play out so that in case he couldn't beat Benny, Sam would still be saved and the vampire put out of Dean's misery.

"You got no weapons on you, brother except for the switchblade which won't hurt me too much. I'm faster and stronger than you so I think I'll forego the biting aspect of this game until I've broken you down," Benny made sure to stay between Dean and the open bay door while offering that same damn annoying smile he used when mocking. "You seriously think you can take me, Dean?"

A human hunter facing a vampire without any real weapons since he knew he couldn't get to his secret weapon that he knew was still in his boot without losing time and advantage.

In all his years as a hunter, Dean had faced down a lot of things that had outweighed him, out powered him, outmatched him and that included humans as well as monsters but usually he had some kind of weapon to help give him an edge.

In this fight, as he and Benny began to circle one another warily in the open space of the warehouse floor, he had nothing but his own wits, his own strength and his own determination to get to his little brother before Sam died and that was suddenly all Dean knew he needed.

"You're standing between me and my brother, Benny. I told you before that if you ever went near him or touched Sam to hurt him that I'd end you…and when it comes to assholes touching my little brother, I always keep my promises," he slowly let the buried feelings, emotions, and rage that had allowed him to survive in Purgatory to flow to the surface and he went straight into the fight with a snarl and bellow that no one this side of Hells backyard had ever heard from him.

Benny was stupid to underestimate the hunter since he'd seen him fight for his life down in Purgatory too often not to think that Dean wasn't a dangerous opponent though he believed he had the upper hand due to the fact that he was more than human.

"Surprised Sammy didn't put up more than a fight," he took a fist to the face that barely staggered him while the fist he hit Dean with knocked the man back several steps and bloodied his lip. "Though, I think puttin' him through that desk before he really knew enough to think I'd come with good intentions stopped him cold," he grinned, while licking his lips. "You know his blood tastes different than yours does."

Dean so did not want to hear that because right then he didn't want to be reminded of the damn demon blood that he'd hoped had been cleansed when his brother had been pulled from the Cage minus a soul. He also did not want to be reminded that his so-called 'friend' had fed from Sam more than once from what little he'd seen.

"I so wish you could get some form of demon STD from feeding from him you damn stupid bastard," Dean growled, not aware of how deep and gruff his tone had gone as he ducked under a fist that was determined to take his head off if it had connected. "You got pissed off at me because I didn't want to play anymore and so like any spoiled brat took it out on the next best thing rather than just coming after me to start with! You don't hurt Sam!"

"Right. Why should I when you can do that only too well all by yourself?" Benny actually grunted when the shoulder connected in his midsection but he grabbed Dean by the waist to turn them around before flinging the hunter to one side and into a stack of crates along a side wall. "Does he know you said all that crap to him because you were trying to protect him…from me…from that side of yourself you're still hiding? Though you know I pick up some stuff when I feed and your boy has some interesting things…"

Groaning as broken wood pierced his skin on his shoulder and side, Dean's fingers clenched around a piece of sharp wood to swing it when his senses warned him the vampire was bending close to grab his neck. "I hurt Sam to keep him safe from everything!" he yelled, spitting blood and knowing Benny's senses would smell the blood and he ran the risk of the bloodlust getting to him but not caring by then.

Dean wanted to finish this and get to Sam or he wanted to distract the vampire so someone else could get to his brother.

Slamming the board up and into Benny's arm, he at least felt a little relieved to hear the vampire scream in shock before he felt strong fingers lock onto his neck to jerk him from the floor until his boots were off the floor by several inches.

"Huh. Been awhile since anyone's made me bleed, Dean. I am impressed," Benny told him, tightening his grip while using his other hand to reach out to squeeze fingers into a torn piece of skin on Dean's arm from splintered wood just to return the favor as the hunter cried out in white hot pain. "Though I think you've about had it so what say I cuff you to this chair and we watch the sun the rest of the day as it cooks your precious little brother out there in his very own coffin…then once the sun's down I'll let you get him out."

Unable to offer the choice names he wanted to since the fingers were digging into his throat and cutting off his air much like they would in Purgatory and Benny had wanted to incapacitate him without knocking him out fully.

Seeing white dots begin to dance in front of his blurring eyes, Dean struggled in the grip when his lessening vision was nearly blinded by the white like light that seemed to be flashing on the floor of the warehouse behind Benny's back.

Fear for Sam, rage at himself that he'd allowed this to go so damn far that his brother had been endangered again and the thought of what would happen if he didn't get free, the hunter nearly missed it except something about that flashing light just seemed to stick out to him.

It was when the white light switched from white to red that Dean finally got it and he allowed his pain wrecked body to go nearly limp in the vampire's grasp, forcing Benny to have to adjust his grip and gave him the moment to poke a finger in one of the vamp's eyes.

Further enraging his former friend might not have been a wise move but a quick, if a little blurry, glance up told Dean where he needed to be on gut instinct and stilled his body for the pain to come as the howl of pain turned into a full-fledged snarl and he twisted his body just as he was grabbed and thrown across the room.

"Shit! I was willing to be nice. To maybe give you a break to beg to save Sammy's life but damn it, that hurt!" Benny's accent never changed in tone but the full fangs altered his voice as rage took over. "I'm gonna make you feel as much pain as he did when he tried to fight going in that hotbox out there, brother."

Dean gasped as his ribs hit hard on the back of the metal chair but before he could regain his breath, he felt the hand that grabbed his back up and barely bit back the scream that wanted to explode the moment Benny's mouth closed over the space between his neck and shoulder.

Bent back over the chair to the point where he feared his spine would break, Dean got a hand on the vampire's shoulder but knew he didn't have the strength to push him off like this since he'd never been able to break Benny's grip once he'd latched on…not that he wanted to break the hold right then.

In fact, it was more important to Dean that Benny stayed exactly where he was…even if that meant drinking him dry.

"You…can kill me, Benny," he gasped, hating the pain and the memories this brought back as he fought to stay still and not fight back while waiting a little impatiently. "Problem is…killing me, fine…but you won't kill Sammy."

Benny never released his grip but the low chuckle was mocking since he knew Dean wouldn't be in any shape to rescue the younger Winchester now but something about the hunter's calm made him uneasy.

He was about to lift his hand when the fingers of Dean's other hand suddenly grabbed a handful of his short hair to yank his head to the side even if it meant his teeth tore the skin under the fangs.

"You think I was…stupid to come in here with no…weapons? I probably was," Dean gritted his teeth but held on to the hold that exposed a good section of the vampire's neck much like Benny did when preparing to feed. "What I wasn't stupid enough to do with…Sam's life on the line? I wasn't stupid to come here alone."

"Wha…" Benny's eyes narrowed but before he could move back or react something like a tiny bee sting made him release Dean to grab for his neck and then frowned when his hand came away holding a tiny dart. "What the hell game you playing, brother?" he demanded in a growl, at first finding the dart amusing until the first pangs of burning pain were felt building in his body.

"First, I am not your brother," Dean now understood a little of what Sam felt whenever he heard that from Benny or the time he'd tossed it up to his brother to stop him from asking too many questions that Dean didn't want to face. "I have one brother. He's the most awesome little brother any guy could ask for, especially someone like me who has done everything lately to push him away before realizing the horror he's been through and second…"

Dean paused as his body was able to move if only to slump against the chair that he tried really hard to ignore still had his little brother's blood and some skin attached to it, watching with grim satisfaction as the vampire stumbled back to stare at him in surprised confusion.

"And second…don't piss off someone with the ability to find darts with dead man's blood in it," he managed to support himself while kicking out with a leg to strike hard to the vampire's chest, giving himself more room. "Get to Sam! He's out in that damn box so hurry!"

He didn't worry about not being heard because he was fairly certain the sniper who'd just saved his ass probably had come equipped with some form of rifle mike just for this type of thing.

Dean knew this because it was the type of thing he'd do and they were still too similar in actions for that much to have changed over the years. He could also imagine the names he was getting called about this as well but would deal with that when it mattered and that wasn't right then.

"Huh, you caught me on this one," Benny gritted his teeth in pain while managing to push back to his feet but wasn't able to stay steady as the small amount of dead man's blood did what it had been meant to do…incapacitate him long enough for Dean to finish him. "Didn't take you for a coward though. Bringing someone else…ugh!"

Not bothering to deal with his bleeding neck, Dean was in the vampire's face with a slew of clenched fists as every feel of his fist crashing into the vampire's face reminded him of seeing his little brother nearly burned alive on that chair and the fear of how much worse Sam's fate had become while he'd been forced to deal with Benny.

"You chose to go after Sam, Benny. You chose to involve my brother because you were pissed at me, because like a spoiled kid you didn't like that I pulled away but while you know all my weak spots…I know you and there was no way in hell I was coming in here without some kind of backup," Dean could tell the dead blood was taking a toll when it dawned on him that he'd have to risk going to the Impala for something to end this with when a sound of metal hitting cement made his head jerk up.

"How about ending the son of a bitch and getting your ass out here?" the voice was short and clearly pissed off but Dean didn't have to see the man who'd spoken to know who it was or that he'd tossed in a machete before letting loose with a strong of expletives as he took in the metal box/coffin.

"I was fine with coming here, getting Sam out and letting what happened between us happen but you changed the damn rules the second you fed on my little brother and when you tried to burn him," the hunter reached down, hating the other man's accuracy when he found the blade right where he could reach it without needing to release Benny.

Dean looked between the blade, recognizing the battered handle from years earlier, and the vampire that had been partially responsible for getting him out of Purgatory alive.

In Dean's mind he thought only partially because it had been his desire to get out, his concern for his brother that had forced him to continue fighting to find an escape from Hell's backyard and after everything that had been done, the things that he'd never wanted Sam to know about, he considered his debt paid off.

Seeing the pain in Sam's eyes, the blistered red skin from his exposure to the sun while tied to that chair and knowing Benny had fed on him, on hurt Sam, any ounce of consideration to sparing the vampire went away. "I told you before to stay the hell away from Sam, Benny.

"I've spared one bitch who hurt him and that was because she was human and I didn't feel like getting the lecture but…you're not human and I hope this time you never crawl back out or the next damn time we see one another I will do more than just this."

Dean's arm swung the machete smoothly and without hesitation, shifting his body so that when the blade cleaved through skin and bone to remove Benny's head none of the splashing blood got on him since that was the last possible thing the hunter needed to worry about then.

The sound of body and head hitting the floor were all that Dean heard, finding himself staring at the vampire's head rolled a little bit away before coming to a stop and he felt a shaky breath be released as he let relief come over him for a just a brief moment before it ended with a single thought.

"Sam."

Refusing to think on the dead and decapitated vampire any more, Dean was breaking into a run for the open bay doors before his slightly in shock mind was even fully aware of it. "_Sammy_!"

**Minutes earlier outside:**

"Really? _Really_? Purgatory? That's where the asshole vanished to for that year he was off the grid? God, leave it to Dean to find a way to get his ass trapped in Purgatory for a goddamn year…and cost me a grand since I'd bet my grandmother that the place was just something she used to threaten me with to try to keep me a good Catholic boy."

Being a good Catholic boy never seemed to work for the young man currently positioned on a roof away from the warehouse he'd been watching for the past several hours.

A Special Agent from Homeland Security now, Bryan Markus hadn't always worked the side of the Angels… though he wasn't always certain he was in his current job either.

Born Bryan Cabot, his father had been a hunter in the southern states and up until a werewolf shredded his father on a hunt he thought that was what he'd do as well until his mother remarried and he took his step-father's name to find a fresh start.

Not that he'd ever fully gotten out of hunting. Now he just chose what he hunted a bit more carefully and often used his role in the Federal side of things to try to keep an eye out on or for certain people he'd grown up with, like the Winchester brothers.

Shoving his longer than regulation blond hair out of blue eyes as he kept the scope of the sniper rifle aimed steadily where he wanted it, he pressed harder at the earplug he'd stuffed in his ear to be able to hear what the rifle mike was picking up.

Up until last month when he'd literally stumbled upon the brothers for the first time in years, he'd been content with doing his job and taking out the odd little supernatural thing when bored or his partner attracted trouble.

Helping Dean rescue Sam from the woman that had been Bryan's case to begin with reminded him of not only the life he'd been born into but also how easy trouble could find a Winchester, which considering how easy Dean had attracted trouble when they'd been teenagers shouldn't have shocked him now but this one really threw him.

The call from Dean asking for help had shocked him because he knew that the elder Winchester brother would only bring himself to call for help if things were (A)seriously beyond his control or (B)Sam was in too much danger that Dean wasn't certain he could pull it off alone.

Ignoring the vibrating phone in his pocket, Bryan focused on the scruffy looking vampire and felt his lip curl at what he was hearing.

Dean's call had caught him on a case up in Rhode Island. He'd risked losing his job by dropping the case on his partner's head but when Dean Winchester called for help, the Fed wasn't foolish enough to think he could wait.

As it was, Bryan had pulled in a lot of favors to get him from Rhode Island to Louisiana and even then he'd quickly realized he was too late to do anything but set up and wait for the right moment because a frontal attack on a vampire would have only risked both Winchesters.

The metal box in the middle of the back area of the warehouse gave Bryan a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach that tripled as soon as the words coming from inside the building told him where Sam was being held.

Bryan wanted to move right then. He wanted to go down and free the younger man that he was shocked was even able to function yet after the horror and abuse he'd suffered the month previously at the hands of Amelia Richardson and her little demented sex fiend friends.

A Special Agent who had mainly focused on sex crimes and the worst torture cases his agency handled before the promotion to Homeland Security came, he'd seen a lot in the ways of torture and stuff but when it dawned on him what the box and mirrors were being used for, how the extra radiated heat would heat that metal box up to become a near thousand degree oven to the captive inside he cursed a lot of people…namely the damn vampire and Dean.

"Only you could get out of Purgatory with a damn vamp that's hot for your blood, Dean," he muttered, a sound from the warehouse grabbing his attention and realized his friend had pissed the vamp off…again. "C'mon, Dean. Pay attention, damn it."

He was set up that if he could get a clear shot at the vampire then he had a way to level the playing field a little but he needed to let the hunter know he was there since if he knew Dean at all then he knew the man wouldn't be sure if he'd help him or not.

Hunters and Feds weren't friends as a general rule and Bryan was only too aware that his career was on a very shaky ledge if he kept pulling stunts like this one or the one he pulled last month to make certain that the Richardson woman never saw the light of day to be a risk to Sam or anyone else again.

Bryan also had a keen knowledge on how to use a mirror which is how he was signaling into the warehouse now by flashing little bursts of light in a code that he hoped Dean's rattled brain would still pick up before switching the rifle to laser sight.

Smirking upon realizing that his friend had finally caught on, Bryan reached into the small pouch next to him to insert a special dart he'd had a friend in Canada make up for him years ago and inserting it into the chamber.

The dart was made with a hypo filled with dead man's blood. Not enough to kill but enough to knock the cocky and clearly sadistic vampire on his ass long enough to buy Dean the time to handle it while Bryan took care of other matters.

Holding his breath and nearly choking when he saw the vampire bite Dean, his finger nearly pulled the trigger then but had to wait for the perfect moment since he knew this was a one-time deal because once the vampire figured out there was someone else with Dean the surprise would be over and all their lives would be in danger.

It had made the Fed sick to hear what had been said inside. It made him sick to think of Dean being fed on for any reason but he also wasn't stupid enough to not pick up on the things not being said and he really did feel like slapping his friend for blaming Sam for keeping secrets when the boy had learned that habit from the best of them.

Seeing the moment come, Bryan's finger depressed the trigger and knew it would hit so he was packing up to move even as he heard Dean's shout to get to Sam.

"Yeah, like I didn't plan to do that," he muttered, reminding himself that Dean was used to being the one to protect his little brother ever since Bobby Singer died.

Of course he also knew that Dean had walked into this unarmed and so paused by the door to toss in one of the few things of his late Father's that he still had, the machete that had seen its fair share of blood and guts over the years.

"How about ending the son of a bitch and getting your ass out here?" he gave the machete a toss while making this comment then tossed the rifle bag aside to take a look at the metal box. "Shit…" he breathed upon getting close and feeling the heat pouring off the damn thing. "Sam?"

Bryan didn't expect to get a response and he prayed the boy was just unconscious and not all ready to the point where helping him was too late.

Knocking the mirrors over to at least stop the sun from being magnified as it was directed onto the five foot box, the Fed reached down to wrap his jacket over his hand as he went to try to pry up the lid before two things were made clear to him…

The first was that the damn lid was sealed tight and would require a tool of some kind to pry the lid off to free Sam Winchester and the second thing he realized was that the damn box was hotter than the sun as he felt his fingers start to burn even through the heavy denim of his jacket.

A quick look did show the young Fed that a few holes had been placed in the lid to at least allow some air to get in so he could only hope it had been enough to offer Sam air to breathe even while the sun heating the box would be a big enough threat.

Bryan knew he needed to act fast to put a plan in place because once Dean finished the vampire he'd be out here and keeping the hunter from acting rashly would be like convincing a Wendigo to eat a plant.

The lack of mirrors would stop the extra strength of the sun from beading down on the box but the sun was still at its hottest part and it would be hours before nightfall and then more hours before the metal would be cool enough to touch.

Too long for Sam to wait since Bryan wasn't certain of the injuries already inflicted on the younger man. Looking around the area to see what was close that may be of help, sharp blue eyes landed on a building a few doors down.

"Bourdain's Ice Factory," he smiled while lifting his eyes to the clear blue sky that he really wished had some clouds. "Looks like the Voodoo gods and goddesses still like this little Catholic boy."

Ice wouldn't help much but he was hoping a large quantity of it would cool the box enough that it could be touched and also cool the gradient temperature inside as well.

That detail taken care of, Bryan considered things as he tried to think like a hunter again or more importantly like a pissed off Dean in full on big brother protective mode would.

He knew Dean was hurt but probably not as bad as Sam considering that the vampire would have had the younger hunter far longer and if he was cruel enough to use a metal box than he guessed he'd be cruel enough to do much worse to the young man personally.

"Can't find anything normal to fight, could ya?" he muttered to himself, grabbing his phone to speed dial a number while putting to the back of his mind the fight that this would bring on. "Hey, GPS me and tell me how far away from me you currently are."

A peek in the warehouse made him wince as the familiar sound of skin and bone cutting told him his time frame was just narrowed though he winced more from the voice on the phone. "Too far away," he cursed under his breath while pinching his nose. "Fine. Granny Fay still got her place in Weston? Good. Call her and tell her I'm dropping in with some friends…hurt friends and one of them will be bad.

"What? No, it's none of your business why I'm in the area, Sky. Just make the call and stay clear," he slammed the phone shut just in time to make a lunge to grab for Dean before he touched the box and growled when he had to use his free hand to keep the fist from connecting with his jaw. "Do it and the next time you get in over your damn head I'm not coming."

Dean was livid that the box was still closed and his longtime friend hadn't opened it yet despite the dire circumstances Sam would be in. "What the hell, Cabot? Why haven't you got him out or got this damn thing opened or…"

Ignoring the use of his former last name as well as the obvious bleeding wound on Dean's neck and a few other injuries, Bryan tightened his grip enough to keep the hunter still while jerking his head toward the box. "You touch that thing and it's not only gonna be Sam with burns, Dean," he snapped, hearing and hating the tone of near panic in his friend's normally steady voice but understanding it since he was probably one of the few men still alive that would understand the bond between the Winchesters.

The sound of a truck backing up near them had the Fed shooting a warning glance since it had cost him a lot to get the ice delivered without the owner asking too many questions, of course once he'd flashed his badge he'd gotten all the cooperation he wanted.

"I know you want Sam out and so do I though once we get him out then you're gonna have to tell me just what in the hell you did to cause this mess," motioning to the driver where to dump the ice, he nudged Dean away. "I picked up a little but not enough to understand what the hell made you think you could deal with a vampire and not risk Sam in one way or another."

"It was…complicated," Dean sighed, reaching up to try to stop the thin flow of blood only to feel something pressed into his hand. "Thanks," he murmured, hating to be so close to his brother and yet feel so far away as the small dump truck lifted its bed to unload a large pile of frozen ice and had to step further back when the cold ice hit hot metal only to turn to steam. "Sammy."

Waving the steam away, Bryan nodded to the driver and had to keep a firm grip on Dean until the truck was away before either man stepped closer to the box.

The ice had turned to steam instead of liquid which was a clear sign of how hot the damn thing had been and as he held a hand over the top of the metal box like prison he still felt heat but thought it had gone down enough that they could touch it.

"This needs to be quick because it won't take long for the damn sun to heat it back up," he held out a crowbar he'd found. "How bad was he the last time you saw him?"

"Blisters on his feet, a couple on his chest and I figure his back and arms will be bad cause he had him tied to a metal chair in the sun," Dean winced as his injured arm ached like fire as he fought to get the pry end of the bar into any type of lip on the lid to try to force it up. "He was bad then and that was twelve or so hours ago, Bry. Plus he fed on him and…"

"I thought after that Wendigo tried to make Caleb either its dinner or its wife that you were done with things that could chew you or Sam up," Bryan commented, grunting at the weight of the lid seemed to make prying it off harder than it should've been.

"I owed Benny for helping me get out but after the debt was paid he decided to extend it," Dean swore as the lid refused to budge and he felt the metal heating up again when he laid his hand on the top, wishing he could hear some kind of noise. Sam!"

Bryan now officially hated vampires and whoever manufactured this damn box as he slammed his own pry bar under the lip again to bring his full weight down on it before he felt the lid actually move a little. "Dean!"

The hunter had felt the same thing as well as feeling his own breath catching now in nervous anxiety in fear he rarely admit to feeling at not knowing how badly his brother would be hurt now or how he would help him.

It took both men and their combined weight and strength to finally break the seal around the metal box and to manage to push the lid off the other side to crash to the ground with a thud but the only sound Dean could hear was the beating of his heart when it seemed to jerk to a stop at the sight that was waiting for him.

"_Sonuvabitch_…"

**TBC**

**A/NII: **_Yes, I did just do that and yes, I know I'm an evil, evil writer to leave you guys wondering just what was found when they opened that box. Updating soon._


	3. Chapter 3

**Choose or Lose**

**Warnings: **_I'll warn for language since there is for sure one seriously bad word that I don't use all that often. Also mild descriptive scene toward the end, nothing too bad._

**Author Note: **_Yes, I know. I didn't start exactly where I left off. Don't you guys hate when I do that? Anyway, enjoy this chapter to find out how Sam's rescue goes. Also, for my Facebook friend Ginger who asked for possibly an angsty Dean scene as it all hits him? It's in here and I will keep practicing until I get it right. Enjoy, guys!_

**Chapter Three**

"Hold still or I'm knocking your ass out!"

"Try it and I'll remind you of the last time you thought you could knock me out!"

"Fine! Hold still or I'll arrest your ass long enough to do this!"

That harsh threat might have seemed a bit too much of a bluff but since Dean Winchester understood only too well that his friend probably wasn't bluffing by this point he blew out a disgusted breath and tried to stay still despite his desperate desire to be upstairs with Sam.

"You can't do him any good up there right now, Dean," Bryan Markus remarked while finishing his job of cleaning and stitching any open wounds his friend had gotten in the final fight with the vampire. "You'd just get in Granny Fay's road and then that lump on your head would be bigger after she took that cane to it."

Realistically Dean accepted that as the truth but the hyper manic older brother inside him didn't give a crap and hadn't wanted to leave his little brother alone with strangers.

"He needs a hospital," he muttered, shocked at his own words since normally Dean was the one fighting against going close to the places but this time, as he could still see Sam once they'd removed the lid of his prison, he wanted his brother in an actual hospital with the right equipment and actual doctors and nurses.

"Uh-huh and how many lies do you have right on the top of that scattered head of yours that would possibly explain those wounds?" Bryan countered, breaking the thread of the final stitch between Dean's neck and shoulder while reaching for the whiskey bottle. "You want this in you or on you?" he asked with a raised brow.

Taking the fifth of Jack, Dean swallowed a gulp with a hiss then handed it back as his eyes crossed a little. "Both," he replied then coughed. "How old is this stuff?"

"World War I probably," Bryan shrugged, pouring some over the injuries rather than use the antiseptic he had at hand. "Gramps was a whiskey snob or so I've been told."

Once done he handed the bottle back to Dean while making certain to put everything back where he'd found it then pulled a scarred kitchen chair around to straddle it. "Want to talk about it?"

Bryan had known the Winchesters since he and Dean had both been in their early teens after their Dads had crossed on a hunt and the first thing that he'd come to understand was that aside from his little brother, who Dean doted on, the older boy kept his emotions to himself.

"I hurt him so damn bad before, right after I got back, because I didn't want him asking questions about Purgatory. I tried to do what I needed to in order to keep Sam safe and this crap hits him just as he's starting to feel safe enough for me to leave him alone for more than an hour," the hunter took a deeper swallow of the whiskey before sitting it down, feeling too raw to even want the liquor.

"Down there, I did what I had to just to get back up here though I fought the bastard the first time he decided I'd make a good late night snack but…" Dean's hand moved to the slight scar he had on the back of his right shoulder then down to his side before pulling a clean t-shirt back on. "The idea that the debt was paid off once we were topside went sideways when I realized it wasn't going to be that simple to sever ties with Benny and he threatened Sammy the first time."

Pushing to his feet, Dean's eyes strayed to the ceiling of the old fashioned kitchen of the three story home on the outskirts of Weston, Louisiana where his brother was currently on the third floor being cared for by a very cantankerous old woman with an arm like a professional ball player and a cane to match.

"After that mess in Texas I broke off ties with Benny cause I couldn't keep doing that to Sam," he looked back to see the unasked question on the Fed's face and sighed. "To protect him from Benny, to keep him from ever knowing about Purgatory or the things that happened then and now I…pushed Sammy away. I…said a lot of crap that hurt him almost as much as what the bitch did and now…

"And now he'll be fine," Bryan knew that was pushing even his hopes but right then he needed to keep Dean's emotions in the ballpark of at least reasonably calm since he doubted if his grandmother would approve of any holes being pounded into her walls…unless she was the one making them.

Flashes of memory came back when Dean glanced down at his hands to see the dried blood, skin and dirt under his nails and still on his hands from where finding and freeing his little brother turned more complicated than it should've been.

**Hours Earlier, Warehouse site:**

"_Sonuvabitch,"_

Staring into the nearly open coffin/box should've allowed Dean to see his injured and probably hurt worse little brother instead he forced his eyes to blink in order to try to bring what he was seeing into focus and then try to believe it.

"Son of a bitch!" his yell was pure frustration as well as building terror because upon realizing the metal box that they'd just wasted so much time to open was empty except for Sam's jacket, bloody shirt, boots was like a fist to an already abused system.

"Okay, I seriously do not like this bastard," Bryan decided upon seeing the empty box, not trying to control the rage and hate pouring off of his friend now because this had just upped the ante. "The way he kept talking, shit! I should've known it wouldn't be this simple."

The whole metal box being cooked in the sun had been a ruse to waste time but as Dean reached in to remove the items he shot a look of open desperation to the former hunter turned Federal agent. "Where the hell is he?" he demanded, rage building and very prepared to lash out at anyone right then. "Why didn't you…"

"Hey, it's not easy for me to get from Rhode Island to the basin of Louisiana without a time lag, Dean. The next time you decide to piss off a damn vampire to this extreme and figure you're gonna need help give me a day or so of heads up time to rearrange my time," Bryan cut it off, understanding the emotions swirling in his friend but also knowing they didn't have time for this. "I got here as fast as I could and he'd already moved Sam cause all I heard was him talking to you nonstop for what seemed liked…" he suddenly stopped. "Dean, where's your phone?"

Stalking around the metal box like a caged tiger while wishing he hadn't killed Benny until he'd gotten Sam back, the question pulled him off step because the last thing Dean was thinking about was his cellphone right then.

"Inside I think," he thought he'd noticed it on a table across the warehouse. "Why? He probably broke Sam's phone so calling it won't…"

"A vampire sick enough to do what he's done wasn't going to just stop hurting Sam by locking him away somewhere," Bryan was looking around at the other buildings to see if any of them would have been a good match. "What's the range on your phones? How far could he take Sam before the signal stopped?"

"Sam rattled off something about depending on the cell signal it really didn't matter how far apart we were," Dean was frowning, until he began to understand and felt sick.

The Fed said Benny had been talking even though Dean was unconscious. Grabbing the things out of the box, he stalked back inside to find his phone and saw that it did indeed have an open line which meant…

"He let Sam hear everything he said," he whispered then stared at the phone before lifting it to his ear but couldn't hear anything. "Sammy? Hey, if you can still hear this…hear me, I'm gonna find you. It's all gonna be good, little brother."

Bryan had looked around the warehouse while making a note to make the headless body vanish sometime soon but his focus was on finding Sam Winchester and ASAP.

Looking out to the front of the building where the Impala was parked, he searched for a second vehicle. "Hey, what the vamp drive?" he asked, sighing as Dean shouldered past him to go look for himself.

"Pickup truck," the hunter responded, looking but not seeing Benny's truck but then he hadn't seen it when he arrived either. "Microwave on wheels but I don't see it and he couldn't have moved Sam without it so…"

"Or he left it wherever he left Sam," Bryan Markus decided, not liking the way this was turning out because if it had been twelve hours that Dean had been kept unconscious that gave the vamp plenty of time to have moved the younger Winchester and also to have done a lot more to him. "Sam's phone have GPS?"

Shooting the other man a look that was pure Winchester, Dean nodded but was hesitant to close the connection in case his brother's phone was still on and if Sam was conscious or even remotely conscious then he could still hear something to assure himself that help was coming.

"Give me the number," Bryan pulled his out to pull up a nifty little application he'd borrowed and modified form the Agency a few years back. "We need to take care of him?" he asked, meaning the head and body inside the warehouse.

"Feed it to whatever bottom feeders are swimming in that water for all I care," Dean growled, wanting Sam and not really caring what happened to the remains but understood the risk of not burning the bones. "Find the signal and I'll do it."

Rapidly inputting the cell phone number, Bryan frowned as the program dialed into the GPS signal and while he was waiting for it to locate the signal his eyes kept scanning until he caught the tail end of a rusted out truck at the end of the dock.

Seeing that Dean had decided to put the vampire's own box trap to his own use, the Fed left him to the task of burning the body while cautiously approaching the truck.

Naturally it was empty, though he'd had a slim bit of hope the bastard would've just left Sam trapped inside it to roast in the heat all day but swore softly when it was empty.

Jerking open the tailgate, Bryan coughed at the smell that hit him before catching sight of what would've been a CSI agents dream: blood, some skin tissue that he really didn't want to think about since that meant the boy's burns were much worse than Dean had known about or had gotten worse after the vamp had taken Dean out of the picture.

The dried blood seemed to form a pattern that resembled a body but as he looked closer, the vein in the Fed's forehead begun to pound because the only way a 6'4" body could've made a pattern like this would be if it had been tied at an obscene and painful angle.

Pushing those thoughts away, he looked around the truck until he knelt down to see mud on the tires. A red clay type of mud that wasn't natural to this area of the basin which had him once again figuring timelines since there had been a reason Benny the vamp drugged Dean to keep him out for longer than normal.

Smelling gas, smoke and blood, Bryan wrinkled his nose again but looked at his phone when it beeped to see it had finally picked up the signal on Sam's phone. "Hey, this guy was in Purgatory with you and came out with you, right?" he asked without looking back since he knew where Dean was by a long ago learned sense of his friend.

"Rode me out literally," Dean nodded, growling a little at what he could see from the bed of the truck. "Only way he could get out was to ride out in a host and that was me."

"I so don't need exact details on that," Bryan muttered, scowling at the phone. "What happened when you got out? How did he…okay, so this I need details on…how did he get a body?"

Seeing that the GPS was showing a location that would've put it a few hours away, Dean's green eyes narrowed as he slowly considered it. "I came out up in Maine and I wanted to find Sammy first off but first off I needed to get rid of the hitch hiker in my arm so I managed to get down here to Louisiana to where Benny's bones were buried and…shit," he broke off in a whisper, eyes going wide. "That's where he took Sam. To where he was buried, to where I…_sonuvabitch_."

"Yeah, I so hate monsters with a sense of irony," Bryan decided, eyeing his friend. "Can you drive or…"

Dean couldn't care less if he'd been bleeding out or in need of immediate surgery; he was driving his own car and getting his little brother. "Get in the damn car," he growled, tossing Sam's jacket and boots in the back seat while having burned the ruined shirt along with Benny's body. "Benny won't come back now even if he found a new jackass to bring him up cause he doesn't have a body to come back too…though if it's too late and Sammy's hurt too bad we're coming back here and burning them again."

Not worried about his rental car since a simple call would get it picked up, Bryan tossed the one bag he had with him in the back of the Impala before settling into the passenger seat while not missing how tense his friend seemed right then.

He knew Dean was beyond frantic now about Sam but if he had to guess he would say the reason for the tension stemmed from having someone other than his little brother riding shotgun in the Impala because as far back as Bryan could recall unless he or Caleb were with Dean then Sam had always held shotgun.

It was nearly a two hour drive from the docks to where Dean remembered bringing Benny to resurrect him after getting out of Purgatory.

The whole area had become overgrown over the years and a lot of the land had been reclaimed by the nearby swamps. What wasn't was covered in soft dirt or red clay and as he parked the Impala as far as he could drive since he sure didn't want to get the car stuck in mud, it slowly became obvious what he'd been trying to avoid thinking about the entire drive.

Benny had buried his brother alive but had been cruel enough to leave an open phone line between them so while Sam was trapped he'd be able to hear every threat, every mocking word exchange.

"He said I was out for about twelve hours. How much air could Sam have had in a box or…" Dean shoved out of the Impala to grab things from the trunk, not even paying attention to his own injuries until the shovel was taken out of his hands.

"If he didn't panic, if he could keep breathing normally or shallowly…then…he's about out," Bryan decided to forego mentioning the other side of the coin because he also know the same thing his friend did.

Sam Winchester had never liked being enclosed in small places ever since he'd been locked in a cage in a hole in a floor as a kid by some sick son of a bitch. He also didn't care for the dark for the same reason so being trapped, tied up and hurt in probably a box or something with no light and knowing he was buried…that would've brought every panic attack Sam had out with a vengeance.

"If we both dig we can get to him sooner," Dean argued, trying to ignore the smirk and pointed look at his wounds that the Fed was giving him. "He's been in there too long, Bryan!"

"Right and I can handle getting him outta whatever he's in by myself after you pass out from blood loss by making that arm and neck wound worse by bleeding out while trying to dig in heavy wet dirt," Bryan remarked, not having trouble finding the spot since even with the dampness and the bayou being so close the ground still showed fresh signs of the hole being filled in.

"How about we try it this way…I'll dig and you talk to him on the phone. Even if he's unconscious, he still might hear you because if he starts coming around at the noise going on above him Sam'll freak out," he thought that sounded reasonable but was still a little surprised when the hunter actually agreed to the plan without any argument and that's how he knew Dean's fear level was at its highest.

Eyeing the fresh dirt and silently gauging it to just be a hole big enough for a box barely five feet by five feet, Bryan understood there was no way in Hell the vampire could've fit Sam Winchester's oversized body in something that small without considerable pain and contorting him.

If Dean had picked up on this fact he wasn't letting on though by the way his eyes were raking the ground, it was clear that he had. "Sammy, hey…it's going to be fine. We're getting you out of this hole as soon as Mr. Hotshot Fed from Homeland Security gets his ass in gear and digs faster," he gave a tight smile as the grunt he heard from the agent but needed something to keep his emotions in check because it would be too easy to let his voice break.

Ever since he'd gotten the first call and he'd heard the actual fear in Sam's voice, Dean had been running on pure emotion. He'd always promised to take care of his little brother and hadn't done such a good job over the years but this time, this time he was pissed at himself like he hadn't been in years.

"You're going to be fine, little brother. I just need you to stay calm a little longer and any noise you hear will be Bryan once he puts his back into this since right now I could dig faster with a spoon," Dean lifted his eyes from the ever growing hole when a clump of dirt was thrown his way. "What're you…twelve?" he winced as he realized he'd used one of Sam's lines whenever he did something immature.

"Bite me, Dean," Bryan muttered, discarding his T-shirt since the hot sun and humidity wasn't making this chore any easier since while the hole was long or wide it sure seemed deep. "I didn't think the bastard would dig a hole to China."

The deeper the hole the more isolated it would feel to the young man trapped inside. Dean could recall his brief round of panic when he'd woken up in his own coffin after Castiel had retrieved his soul from the Pit.

Waking up in a dark small box isn't ever fun though Dean knew it would be worse for Sam if he was tied up as well because his little brother's three biggest fears were all being rolled into one.

"The whining you hear is Special Agent Bryan Markus, formerly Cabot, who is digging his way to you as I speak," Dean met the opposite blue eyes and understood the unspoken concern.

A shallow hole wouldn't have been too bad to get Sam out of but anything deeper than six foot was going to be a pain in the ass and since Bryan was maybe an inch taller than Dean's six foot and he'd slowly dug enough that his head was barely visible it was plain that Benny had dug a goddamn deep hole to bury Sam in.

"Hey, remember when you were six and we got locked in Pastor Jim's toolshed one day cause we were snooping around?" Dean was grasping for anything to say while hoping his brother could hear him or that at least his voice could be heard even if Sam was unconscious. "That shed was small and it got dark before Jim and Dad got back to find us. You were scared cause you hate the dark and remember what your awesome big brother did to take your mind off it, Sammy?

"I told you so many silly stories and fairy tales I think the only way Jim knew to look in the shed for us was he heard you giggling…God, I wish it was that simple this time," he sighed, hearing metal strike something that didn't sound like wood and was scrambling to look over the edge at the same time a string of harsh curses were being thrown. "Bryan?"

He'd been listening to Dean's voice while digging, never failing to be amazed that the gruff private anti emotional man could actually take his tone down to the level he only seemed to use with his brother when the shovel broke through dirt but rather than hitting wood it bounced off metal.

"Oh, are you fuckin' kidding me?" he was no longer amused by the lengths the vampire took to hurt the Winchesters. Now he was pissed off. "A vault? He put a goddamn vault in here?"

"Could he have just sealed Sam in there?" Dean had his doubts since that would be too simple as he eased into the hole to help clear the rest of the dirt off the top in search of a latch or a way to lift the top off.

"That would be too easy and so far nothing he did has been simple," Bryan growled, hating monsters to begin since his father was killed by one but he really hated monsters that planned ahead. "He'd been planning this for awhile for this to have been in the ground already. I'm thinking it might not have been meant for Sam though."

The idea gave Dean a sickening chill but it made sense in a bad sort of way too. It also made him gladder that he'd burned those damn bones and he couldn't wait to leave this place behind too.

Ramming the tip of the shovel into the crack that the lid made on top of the vault, Bryan released a sigh that at least this one was sealed like the fake box had been as he felt it slid off to reveal a sturdy well-made wooden box.

The Fed felt his teeth grind together even as he could hear Dean offering a few well-chosen words as they both took in the words scrawled on the top… '_Rest In Peace Sam Winchester, 1983-2013'_.

"Y'know, we could probably resurrect his ghost long enough to gank it again," he muttered darkly, already moving to try to see if this lid would pull off or need pried.

"Tempted," Dean returned darkly, supporting himself on the edge of the vault while his friend worked to get the wooden lid free. "Sam! Sammy! Just a few more seconds and we'll have you outta there."

Bryan kept his head down to avoid seeing Dean's face. He didn't want to be the one to bring up that the younger man may be too badly injured or a lack of air could've hurt him worse or…the worst case scenario would be if that damn vampire killed Sam before even putting him in the box.

A crack was heard as wood broke and with a grumbled oath, he pulled the lid off and managed to get it up and out of the hole without dropping it or hitting Dean as the hunter ducked underneath the lid to look down and an eerie silence settled over the area as both men looked down…

**Present, Weston, Louisiana:**

"You saw him, Bryan. You think he's going to be fine?" Dean scoffed, feeling tired and filthy and just wanted a long shower as well as the chance to see his brother. "He's been tortured and practically burned alive and then buried alive! Sam's had issues with being closed in since he was a kid and…"

"I didn't say he'd be up and off hunting ghosts in the next week or so, Dean," Bryan rolled his eyes, hearing the sound of a cane on wood and standing up to go to his friend. "Yeah, Sam's been hurt and he's not gonna be good for a while but he's also a damn Winchester so that means he's stubborn as all get out. This isn't your fault either."

Dean had his doubts on that one but before he could respond, his tired green eyes shot to the kitchen doorway where a tiny old woman stood watching them through shrewd blue eyes.

Fay Cabot, or Granny Fay as she was better town in the town of Weston, always had an open door policy at her home on the outskirts of town.

The eight-eight year old woman took in all kinds of strays, animal and human, and tended wounds of the physical, emotional and spiritual.

She might look small and frail at barely topping out at 5' but as anyone, including her oldest grandson, could attest to she was meaner than a feral tomcat when riled up and wielded a mean cane.

The call to expect Bryan and his friends didn't surprise the old woman since she knew if her grandson was coming to call then either he or one of his friends needed help that he couldn't risk using a traditional hospital for.

"You stitch him up covered in that dirt?" she still spoke with the accent of a pure Cajun as she ran a wrinkled hand, freshly washed of blood and worse from the younger Winchester, through snow white hair that she still kept in the same tight bun that she'd been wearing for more than sixty years.

"I had to threaten to arrest him just to get this far but I cleaned the wounds before I stitched him up," Bryan replied, wincing when the cane hit his leg lightly so he knew it was more of an out of habit gesture than anger. "Granny, I failed at the introductions when you started snapping at me when we got here but this is…"

"Dean Winchester, oldest son to John Winchester. The hunter your Daddy met one time which makes the boy I just fixed up the little one, Sam," Fay's eyes took in Dean, reading everything in one quick glance. "You're twice as handsome as you were at seventeen and I bet even more of a trouble magnet," she walked over to the hunter to motion him to lean down so she could check the stitches on his neck herself.

Dean's memory of his friend's grandmother was sketchy except she'd been gruffly kind the one time she'd put them up while John and Bryan's Dad worked a case. He also recalled being whacked with that cane more than once.

"What's your secret?" he asked after a moment of silence, squelching his urge to demand answers about Sam because this wasn't a woman you demanded things from. "You still look like you did when I was seventeen."

"Ha!" the old woman laughed, patting his bruised cheek with a gentle touch while nodding her satisfaction at her grandson's handiwork. "Still a flatterer," she seemed pleased with that while throwing a look over her shoulder. "You keep him away from Sky, you hear?"

Biting his lip, Bryan offered a simple nod without mentioning that while Dean had woman dropping at his feet it was actually the other way around since he knew for a fact that his little sister was one of the few females Dean had met in his over sexed teenage years that scared him out of his mind.

"Sky's busy and if she happens to drop by I'll run interference," he assured his grandmother, hiding his smirk at the sour look Dean offered at that. "So, before Dean jumps outta his skin or starts growling and I really do have to arrest him, how's Sam?"

Taking a hearty swig of the whiskey without even a hiss, Granny Fay sat down with a heavy sigh. The only noise in the kitchen it seemed was the perking of the tin coffee pot on top of the old fashion wood stove in the corner of the room.

"Sit down, boys," she ordered, eyes flashing as her cane slapped on the floor to cut off any of the expected arguments from either Fed or hunter. "Sit! And you'll put that badge away while you're in my house Bryan Alexander Cabot. I don't cotton to Feds and you being kin don't change how I feel about that."

Dean ran his tongue over his teeth to keep his smirk from showing because while he was desperate for news on his brother it brought back actual good memories to see his friend squirm in front of an old woman he towered over.

Wiggling his eyebrows at the agent from Homeland Security, Dean knew the only reason he wasn't being flipped off was the fact that Bryan didn't want his hand beat with that cane if he made the gesture.

"You boys are hunters still?" Fay was now focused on Dean's green eyes but it was also the way his fingers and hands kept moving restlessly that told her the main answer. The boy was fighting panic and after what she'd just seen and dressed she understood why.

"Yeah, but this was…this was more personal," Dean muttered, knowing it would take a long time before he'd be able to look his brother in the face after causing him to be hurt. "Sammy was nailed by something looking to hurt me and…"

"Vampires are vicious but not normally sadistic enough to do what was done to him," Fay poured shots and pushed them across to her grandson and his friend while not drinking hers right then. "You know the boy's hurt?"

The hunter had known that the first time he'd seen Sam tied to the chair and he'd guessed from the first moment he'd seen his brother once that damn box was opened that Benny had spared no expense to cause him more pain. "I know he's been burned and fed from and I could feel at least one shoulder had been dislocated but what else?"

Waiting until Dean drank the shot; Fay poured another before speaking again. "He's been starved and dehydrated but those are things to be dealt with now. His chest, face and neck got some serious sun burn and will be sore and peeling but his feet, back and arms are the worst since those blisters opened or were opened and got some infection in 'em," she heard but ignored the low growl.

"Sam's got bite marks that while not deep, except for one, also got infected so the infection will be bad for him once he wakes up but that's when he'll need you the most cause while I'm hopin' to get most of the cramps out of his arms and legs from how he was tied for so long it'd gonna hurt him once he goes to move," she eyed the two men at her table knowingly. "His throat is my biggest concern right now."

That was the end of Dean's ability to sit still when he pushed to his feet to stalk to the back door that opened out onto a small yard. "How bad?" he asked tightly, rubbing his hands on his muddy jeans as he could still feel the blood and skin as he'd touched Sam for the first time.

"Not deep enough to cut the vocal cords but bad enough to make breathing and talking difficult for a week at least," Fay motioned Bryan to stay seated. "He's fevered and restless but I think you're expecting that cause he'd got some scars that aren't too old that make me wonder just what hunting means these days."

"Sam was hurt last month by a human, Granny," Bryan broke in, not needing his grandmother to know too much about that job or what he'd done to keep his friend's brother safe from the woman who'd kidnapped him. "He's probably still working through that so this won't help things."

Making a noise that was somewhere between a scoff and a tsk, Fay rolled her eyes while moving slowly over to tough Dean's back and not missing the way the boy went rigid. "I've done what I can for now and I'll clean the burns again tonight but he will be in pain once he wakes up so you'd best take the time to go up and shower and sleep," she shook her head to cut off his arguments.

"Once your brother wakes up or starts to he's gonna want and need you, boy," Fay never seemed bothered that nearly everyone in her life towered over her as she moved a hand up to lightly turn Dean's grim face to look down at her. "The hotshot boy who swaggered in my front door one night seventeen years ago wasn't a coward and you aren't one now.

"You blame yourself for this happening to that boy? That's your right as his brother but you get all that out before he wakes up cause he'll need his brother to help him, not feel guilty cause if this was meant to happen then nothing you did would've stopped it," she declared firmly, turning to look at her grandson. "Well? Don't just stand there like a bump on a log. Show the boy upstairs and you stick to his brother like glue while he gets cleaned up and I'll start some supper."

Bryan knew better than to argue, nodding his head to Dean to follow him. The third floor was where Fay put guests that dropped in like this, which he hadn't been thrilled with this time since getting Sam Winchester up to the third floor hadn't been easy to do.

"I'll apologize for Granny Fay now. As you can see she's used to speaking her mind and getting her way since most of the town is scared of her," he glanced back to make a grab when he caught the way his friend nearly staggered. "Dean, when the hell was the last time you slept?"

"Do you mean sleep like sleep for real, on my own, out of exhaustion or sleep due to being hit in the head by a pipe and then drugged?" Dean had to consider that question for a moment before sighing. "I probably haven't slept really well since all that happened with Sam last month because I want to be awake in case one of those damn nightmares hit or he wakes up or…"

"Fine, got it," Bryan nodded, getting an idea of what he was dealing with. "Take a shower, change clothes and then you can get a few hours of sleep while I sit with Sam."

Dean tried to argue that he didn't need sleep. That after a shower and a change of clothes that he'd be fine but the problem with working with Bryan was that the man could still read him and read the signs that were building within him too well.

"Just sit with him until I get out of the shower. Then we'll argue if I'm sleeping or not," he groused, ignoring the snort as he stepped into the room to see that Sam was indeed sleeping but immediately catching that it wasn't an easy sleep.

The exposure to the heat and bright sun had burned Sam's skin a deep red which once it all peeled and began to heal would turn tan but the way Sam had been laid on his side to avoid letting his back touch the bed showed the more serious burns where his brother's back had touched the metal chair.

The blisters were deep and weeping and the ones that had broken seemed to be seeping through the soft bandages that covered them.

All of Dean's instincts said to go sit with his little brother right then but a look at himself in a mirror against the wall showed that he was filthy and needed to be clean before coming close to Sam in order to avoid infection.

Using the tip of a finger to just lightly brush at a long piece of shaggy hair that had fallen over one of Sam's closed eyes, Dean noticed the subtle jerks and flickers going through his brother and knew despite the trauma his body had been through that it wouldn't be too much longer before he woke up.

"Yell for me if he wakes up before I'm out," he told Bryan who had pulled a chair up close to the bed while settling his laptop on his legs to pretend to work while actually trying to keep an eye on both Winchesters.

"_Hel-lo_? Federal agent here. I do know what I'm doing," he offered, waiting for and frowning when he didn't get the smart ass response he thought he would.

The usual response had died on Dean's tongue and he chose to just get the chore of showering over with. Stepping into the rather large bathroom, he offered a silent thank-you to whoever designed the room for having an actual enclosed shower tub combo rather than just a stall.

Turning the water on before pulling his shirt off over his head with a wince as the new stitches pulled, Dean slid the mud and blood covered jeans down his legs and tested the water for temperature before ditching the briefs.

Actual hot water with decent pressure was hard to come by in their line of work and the firm pressure of the water beating over his bruised and battered body felt like heaven to the hunter as he stood there for several minutes to allow his body to adjust before sticking his head under the stream of water.

Dean had intended the shower to just be a quick one to wash off the dried blood, mud and whatever else he'd picked up the past day or so but as he slowly felt his body begin to relax under the water, as he watched his brother's blood be washed away the memories he'd buried from hours earlier began to come back in a rush.

He'd expected that Benny had probably done more to Sam after he'd been knocked out but actually seeing what he had when the box lid was removed had taken his breath away and then forced what little was in his stomach to empty.

The smell in the warehouse had been one thing but the smell of blood, burned flesh, open wounds with infection plain as well as other bodily odors had been magnified by being enclosed in the small box.

Sam's 6'4" frame had been contorted in such a way that Dean had feared his brother's body was broken by the way his arms had been pulled behind his back and stretched until his shoulders nearly touched with his wrists pulled up with heavy ropes binding each twisted limb.

His long legs, still encased in jeans that would never be good again, had been pulled up until his ankles could touch his bound wrists while a heavy course rope was wrapped around the young hunter to further prevent any movement even if he could've moved.

The most horrifying thing to Dean though was when he finally stopped coughing and motioned Bryan Markus out of the hole so he could try to ease down without touching his barely breathing brother was the leather strap that had been tied around Sam's throat; the strap that at closer look now appeared to be slowly strangling Sam and needed to come off.

Dean's breath suddenly seemed to be coming faster as he had to place both hands on the wall to support himself as he could suddenly feel yet again the sticky sick feeling of blood wherever he touched Sam as he and Bryan worked to get the ropes cut enough that they could be unwound from around the battered body of his little brother.

Sam's phone had been placed directly at the top of the box and set to speaker so that while even if Sam could've made a noise despite the gag stuffed in his mouth it wouldn't have been heard but he could hear every word coming from Dean's side of the connection.

Unaware of when he started to shake, Dean tried to reach for the bar of soap only to feel it fall from his fingers when he recalled the way they'd shaken when he carded them back through Sam's sticky with sweat and blood hair as the Federal agent worked to carefully unbend limbs that could so easily break if moved wrong or too quickly.

Sam had never regained consciousness even though he whimpered in pain and once the gag, stiff with dried spit and blood, was removed he tried to whisper but no words came out as his throat was constricted by the strap.

It only took a moment for Dean to understand that Benny had soaked the strap in water before wrapping it around Sam's throat and once the leather began to dry was when it began to constrict, cutting into his brother's throat and would've eventually cut his vocal cords.

As it was, the strap had left a mild gash but severe bruising that Dean understood would cause Sam difficulty in swallowing, breathing and talking for a long time.

Dean had buried the rage and guilt he'd been feeling since this started, since he first realized his plan to protect his brother from the vampire had backfired in a very bad way but now as it began to sink in that he'd gotten Sam back, now was when the cracks were starting to show.

Glancing down at his chest as the water beaded down on his tanned skin, all Dean could see was his broken and bent like a pretzel baby brother curled against him in the back of the Impala after it took them nearly an hour to just get Sam out of the box and back to solid ground.

Every touch caused burned skin to crack and bleed. The burned and blistered skin along Sam's arms and the bottom of his feet were so bad it turned Dean's stomach even now to think of the agony that would bring in the recovery process.

Sam had only tensed once, his body's instant reaction to feeling hands on him but all it took to calm him was Dean's hand placed flat on the center of his chest and speaking softly to him while Bryan finally cut the strap off but Sam had been oxygen starved for so long that even once the strap was gone his breath still remained shallow.

Using a bottle of water and a rag to lightly wipe Sam's face clear of sweat, dirt and dried tears, Dean was hoping the cool water would also bring his little brother back around just to offer him a little reassurance that they weren't too late, that Sam could and would wake up from this attack.

However it was the memory of sitting in the backseat with Sam against his chest, much like he'd hold his brother when he was small and scared, that now took Dean to his knees in the shower.

The muscles in Sam's arms and legs had been twisted and contorted in ways that normal people couldn't handle and while his brother had always been agile Dean knew the risk of muscle damage was high, especially if they couldn't work the kinks and cramps out before he woke up because the hunter didn't want Sam to face the pain of that if he could manage it.

Sam had cried out once, trying to bed wordlessly and it had broken Dean so much to hear what his brother was saying in soft whispers after he'd given in to Bryan's plan to take them to his grandmother's place in Weston since neither hunter nor Fed wanted to deal with authorities if they could avoid it.

Dean wanted Sam to be safe, he wanted his brother to be taken care but he'd been forced to agree that Fay Cabot had more knowledge in her head and in her hands than most medical professionals these days.

Hearing his brother struggling to breath as he exerted himself in whatever shock and infection induced nightmare had come on, the older brother had wiped tears away from Sam's fevered face and out of his own upon realizing that Sam didn't care how much he was hurt but he didn't want Benny to hurt Dean.

"Damn it," he groaned, oblivious to the pain in his bruised back or his stitched wounds, Dean's eyes were clamped shut against the rushing memories.

He tried to push back the memories of Purgatory, of where this nightmare truly began because if he hadn't allowed Benny to get so far into his life…if he'd tried to escape alone or if he had dealt with the vampire the first time he threatened Sam once they were back then none of this would've happened.

To protect Sam he had pushed him away at the worst possible time and by the time that Dean realized that Sam needed him more now than he had in years it had gotten to the point where deflecting Benny and his more violent demands just stopped working and a part of Dean knew he should've just handled it like the hunter side of his brain knew was right.

Killing Benny the first time he'd taken blood from Dean by force after being topside, the first time he threatened to hurt Sam if Dean didn't help him would've been the easiest thing to do but at the time the hunter hadn't been certain if he could take Benny down.

The time in Purgatory had changed Dean, a fact the hunter was well aware of. While it had made him more on edge, more violent it had also made him hesitate a few times since returning because Dean had sworn to not become what he nearly had down there.

Failing in killing Benny would've left Sam unprotected because Dean had no doubts what would've happened just like he knew what would've happened in that warehouse if Bryan hadn't made an appearance when he did.

Dying was one thing. It was something that while Dean didn't care to think about because he didn't care about the thought of leaving Sam alone again, he didn't fear death…he did fear being used or being put in a position where he was helpless and that was what he knew had been the vampire's master plan.

So he thought he could protect Sam the best way he knew how until it became clear that pushing his brother away wasn't going to help Sam after the attack and assault of the previous month, after Sam's memories of a year of horror had been forced back on him and the kid had latched on to Dean like he hadn't since he'd been a kid and hurt.

Kneeling in the tub with the hot water a steady stream beading over his bowed head, Dean was unaware of the blood running down the drain from his bleeding knuckles as he continuously beat his fists into the hard marble of the tub enclosure.

"Damn, damn, damn, _damn_!" hot tears of guilt and anger rolled down his face unnoticed as he pictured the hours of agony and torment Sam had endured all because he hadn't dealt with a clear threat. "Sammy, I'm so sorry."

Seeing the burns on his brother, the way the ropes and stretched muscles were now leaving livid bruises all over Sam's battered body made Dean sick to the point he feared he'd throw up again but as the rage simmered to a boiling point, he slammed his fist into the tub repeatedly when a noise from the bedroom made his head jerk up.

Sam was whimpering and crying out hoarsely in his restless sleep, asking for Dean and while he wanted to go to him then…while he wanted to do whatever it took to take the pain and fear away for his brother it all seemed to crash around him…

Benny's voice in his ear, the pain he'd felt, the need to let the vampire feed from him if it would keep Sam safe from ever experiencing that horror, the pain and fear in Sam's voice until finally seeing every goddamn wound, bite mark, cut, bruise and more on Sam after they'd finally gotten him out of the hole that had been designed to be someone's final grave.

The anger, the guilt, the angst that Dean had been bottling up for months just suddenly welled up and exploded out in a dull blur of bloody knuckles slamming into the tub until the young hunter finally collapsed back in the tub to pull his legs up close and let it all out.

Either unaware or not caring if the shower would cover the sounds of his ragged, choked voice sobbing out a combination of curses along with Sam's name in a type of apologetic litany, Dean stayed this way until he was drained emotionally and physically.

The water had turned cool long ago as his brain slowly began to come around, noticing his bruised and busted hands and feeling like he'd swallowed a hedgehog when his throat burned as he swallowed water as it fell on his face to wash the drying tear tracks away.

It was rare for Dean to lose his fabled control and he'd blame the lack of sleep and fear for Sam on this slip up as he went to push himself back to his feet after shutting the shower off to grab for a towel.

Dean leaned against the sink to see the dark shadows under his eyes as well as the more than five o'clock shadow that he'd have to shave soon as he quickly rubbed the towel over his body then reached for the clean briefs and jeans he'd brought in just as a fist pounded on the door.

"Hey! Did you drown in there or are you okay?" Bryan demanded in as normal a voice as he could manage right then since he never planned to reveal to his emotionally closed off friend that the shower and closer door had done little to muffle the sounds that had been coming from the bathroom for the past two hours. "It's been two hours and Sam's muscles are starting to cramp."

"Two…" Dean shot a look at the watch laying on the sink and had to blink several times until it sank in that he'd been in the shower for a lot longer than he'd planned. "Shit!" he swore, jerking his jeans on but not bothering to button them yet as he jerked open the door. "Why'd you let me stay in there so long?"

Bryan debated on any number of wiseass remarks he figured would be right up Dean's alley of comments and had been turning from throwing a quick look at the bed to offer a smirk that turned into a frown even as he was moving. "Dean?"

Stepping from the still hot bathroom into the cooler bedroom had Dean's head spinning. The lack of sleep, leftover drugs, concussion he knew he had and hunger also seemed to all choose that moment to hit him as he grabbed the doorframe to try to keep his balance but he knew just by the ringing in his ears, the little white lights dancing in front of his eyes and the hot and cold flashes that he was going down hard.

"Dean, what's…" Bryan had reached out when his friend's one hand latched onto his shirt to pull him in close and just by the way Dean's pupils were nearly covering any green in his eyes, he cursed to himself.

"You…you…watch him," Dean's order was gruff but then his eyes rolled back in his head and only a sudden grab by strong hands kept the hunter from hitting the floor hard.

"Seriously?" Bryan groaned, careful of his friend's wounds and the obviously cracked ribs as he eased him to the floor for the moment when a sudden sound made his whirl back to the bed and this time his groan was more of a curse because he could tell by the too huge, most pupil hazel eyes that he was in for a bad next few hours. "Sam…please tell me you're easier to deal with this your pain in the ass big brother."

**TBC**

**A/NII: **_Okay, so it needs a 4__th__ chapter and I'll work on that as quickly as possible. Do you think Bryan can handle things until Dean wakes up? Good question. Feel free to join me on Facebook under morgana07 for that question or anything else._


	4. Chapter 4

**Choose or Lose**

**Chapter Four**

Waking up in pain had never been one of Sam Winchester's favorite things to do. Waking up with his body in varying stages of searing agony and not fully recalling the how or why of things were much worse.

Dull voices seemed to be speaking around him, one seemed familiar but he couldn't place it at the moment while the other voice he knew he'd never forget even if he could tell without looking or being clear headed that his older brother sounded…off.

Sam struggled to open his eyes to see but immediately wished he hadn't as his head wanted to pound off his shoulders, which he also realized hurt nearly as much as the rest of him did as things began to come back in brutal flashes.

He recalled Benny's attack at Bobby's place, waking up in a warehouse to be used as bait to lure Dean into a trap. Being tied to a metal chair, being bit and beat on before the sun rose and Sam realized most of the pain must be from where he'd been burned by the magnified rays of the sun.

Struggling to clear his swimming vision to lock on to where his brother was in a room that even without looking Sam knew was strange, he went to swallow in order to speak but nearly passed out when his throat almost closed when pain shot through it.

He had a brief image of being twisted like a pretzel and tied to be tossed in a wooden box that left him confused since Sam couldn't recall being moved from the warehouse, though he thought he'd heard his brother dimly though he did have much more vivid memories of waking up once enclosed in total darkness, tied so tightly that he'd lost feeling hours earlier but hearing Dean's voice from the open phone line and hating that his brother was being hurt because of him…again.

It was the need to find Dean, to see him that forced Sam to blink repeatedly even as his body wanted to give into the need to slip back into the darkness where there was no pain.

Finally managing to clear his vision, Sam stared at the bedroom with its old fashion floral wallpaper. He was on his side, which confused him since he hardly ever slept on his side but the moment he went to move and his back flared like his nerves were raw Sam understood the burns on his back, as well as rope bruises all over his body must be the worst there.

Slowly he fought to stay as still as he could which wasn't easy considering his arms and legs seemed to want to move as his muscles actually felt like they were twisting under his skin and the memories of having his limbs twisted up behind him meant the cramps needed to be worked out before more serious damage was done.

Then his eyes finally located the source of the voices and he just caught sight of his brother, bruised and pale with dark circles under his eyes dressed only in his jeans as he must have just come from a shower.

Sam's blurry thoughts seemed to know something was wrong with his brother but before he could attempt to make a sound that didn't hurt him, visions of a wet leather strap being tied on his throat made him cringle, he watched Dean stumble and only the grip of the blond man in the room with room kept him from falling.

The man, blond hair that reached his shoulders, dressed in faded jeans and a t-shirt spoke to Dean like he knew him and the voice seemed familiar to Sam both from recently and from his childhood but all Sam was seeing was his brother's eyes rolling back in his head as he passed out.

"Seriously?" the man groaned but rather than dropping Dean like Sam internally feared he watched him gently lower his brother to the floor before turning to look toward the bed as if sensing the younger man's gaze and it was plain that having Sam wake up right then did not make him happy as he offered another groan mixed with a curse before sighing. "Sam…please tell me you're easier to deal with than your pain in the ass big brother."

Shock, pain, confusion and buried fear were all rolling inside Sam right then as the man, something in the blue eyes reminded the younger Winchester of when he'd been younger, stepped closer to the bed and went to reach for his wrist.

Sam's reaction was instant despite the way his arm ached and could hardly move but waking up in pain, confused and unsure what was happening or where he was or why his brother had just passed out did not mean that his normal reaction were going to be working.

"_Jesus Christ_!" Bryan Markus hissed as his head snapped back and blood began to pour from his nose after Sam's fist managed to connect with it. "Yeah, you are way too much like your damn brother for my own good, kid," he growled, snatching a handful of floral scented tissues to stop the blood while glaring at a clearly only half awake and very suspicious Sam Winchester.

"Don't you take the Lord's name in vain under my roof, boy!" Granny Fay stepped into the room, eyes taking in the scene in front of her with a huff. "Got the bedside manners of a jackass is what you have, Bryan," she chided her grandson while giving her ever present cane a stamp to indicate impatience. "You get that one to a room down the hall while I start taking care of the little one."

If he hadn't been tired, stressed and now had blood running from a nose he hoped wasn't broken it would've amused the Federal agent that his grandmother was calling a man Sam's size 'the little one' but he couldn't bring himself to mention that.

"Gran, Sam's a hunter who's twice your size and he tends to be a brat when hurt as my bleeding nose is evidence to so maybe let me calm him down before you…ow!" wincing as the cane whacked him not to gently this time on his arm, Bryan gave up and silently wondered why he got himself into these situations. "Fine, but don't go bitching…ow…complaining to me about anything."

"I've been tending to the wounded and hurt since before your Daddy was a blink so don't go telling me I can't handle this one," she rolled her eyes with another huff, catching and holding the still in shock hazel eyes of the boy in her care and waiting until a moment of understanding seemed to pass between them.

"He's been hurt something fierce this time and it's pretty clear that he's still working on getting over whatever happened to him that caused those wounds…and you will be telling me what your part in that was or I'm fetching my cast iron skillet to take to your backside," she nodded her head toward Dean while moving to the bed. "Get him settled then come back here. You've got stronger hands and that's what we'll need to work his muscles out."

That didn't make Bryan happy since he could just imagine the pain Sam was in at the moment from just the burns, and rope bruises. The thought of causing him more pain by touching him to work out the cramping muscles made him wince as he managed to get Dean into a room two doors down.

All of Fay Cabot's guest rooms looked basically the same with similar old flowered wall paper and clean but outdated carpet but to Bryan it still felt like home even if visiting the old woman often had him working harder than he did at his real job.

Checking the stitches Dean had to be sure whatever he'd done in the bathroom that had resulted in the knuckles on both hands looking swelled and bloody hadn't torn them, he blew out a breath while taking a moment to just sit and try to recall when things had gone so wrong.

Bryan remembered a time when both he and Dean didn't have the stress of worries they did now, when they and Caleb had almost been normal teenagers and Sam had been the little brother tagging along after his big brother but had more often than not gotten stuck with Bryan's little sister.

"I gotta remember to keep a better watch on the two of you," he muttered, relieved that Dean at least appeared to be sleeping and hoped he would get a few hours of undisturbed rest while Bryan took on the bigger responsibility of handling Sam.

Gingerly touching his nose, he was glad it wasn't broken since that would've been hard to explain not only to Dean but also to the people back in DC when he went back to work…if he still had a job after this.

"You are so going to owe me for this, Winchester," he decided, opening the window to allow fresh air into the room while knowing his overly prepared grandmother would have already given the room her own special once over to assure that his friend could sleep peacefully. "Though we might be calling it even so you don't kill me over what I'm about to do."

Stepping into the hall to shut the door, he pulled his phone out to hit speed dial again while ignoring the multiple voicemails he was sure would be from his partner, who would understand about getting the case dropped in his lap, and his superior, who would be far less understanding.

Hearing the call picked up on the fifth ring, Bryan held his tongue since he knew the damn annoying girl only did that when he called. "Hey, change of plans. Get your cocky ass to Gran's place and bring all that fancy knowledge you picked up in the Orient cause you'll need it and…no flirting this time around, Sky."

Bryan hated to call on his sister for a great many reasons. The biggest being she was a born motor mouth who talked non-stop and would intentionally flirt if for no other reason than to annoy him but he figured he may as well put her new found skills to some actual use.

Dean might kill him later on for it since Skylar Cabot had thoroughly enjoyed flirting with his friend even though she was only two years older than Sam had been back then.

Steeling himself for what the next few hours or days would bring, he stepped back into Sam's room to step back out long enough to control the more basic gag reflex that hit him from both the sight of seeing the burned and blistered skin of Sam's back and from the smell of whatever unholy concoction his grandmother was smearing on it only to wipe back off.

"You comin' in or gonna stay in the hall while I do this?" Granny Fay's voice called in her no nonsense tone that while sounding sweet and grandmotherly really meant get your ass in here or I'll kick it for you later. "He wants his brother."

"Nothing new there," Bryan walked in, trying not to make faces at the odor of the homemade ointment as he rounded the bed to see that while Sam's eyes were closed, clamped tight actually, his fingers were moving restlessly to twist in the sheet against the pain he had to be in. "Gran, ain't that stuff illegal in about seventeen counties?" he asked, pulling a chair over to sit by the bed while working up what to say.

A laugh barked out as if the old woman thought that was the most amusing thing she'd heard in years. "A lotta things are illegal according to your rules. My rules are a lot less complicated especially when it comes to what I treat folks with," she looked up with sharp eyes. "I remember a time when you didn't care so much about those rules either."

"A badge and top level security clearance changes a man, Gran," he replied quietly, moving a hand slowly because he knew on some gut level that Sam was awake. "Sam, I know you want Dean but your stubborn moronic brother pushed too hard on top of getting his skull caved in with a pipe or something and has crashed for the next…if I'm lucky, few hours."

It had been a long time since Bryan had to be the one handling a situation like this. He'd never been the comforting type unless he'd had no other choice.

When hunting with his Dad, or the occasional job with Dean and Caleb, they'd hunted, killed the monster and left the locals to piece it together.

When he'd joined the Marines and then the FBI it was usually his partner who consoled victims or handled the press or liaisons with other agencies because Bryan didn't normally have the patience for that.

He could if he needed to and this time it looked to be one of those times because he had no delusions that Dean would kick his ass if he didn't take care of Sam.

"My name's Bryan. We met back when you were in your early teens only my name was Cabot then and…Gran, don't do that," he heard the low cursing going on from the other side of the bed and understood that his father's mother still was pissed that he'd taken his step-father's name while Sky had kept the Cabot surname. "You probably won't remember since you were still pretty out of it when I left but you saw me last month."

Just the slightest tremor worked through Sam at the mention of the events last month but his eyes remained closed though he did move his hand up toward the bandage covering the gash on his throat and only a quick move by the Fed stopped him from touching it.

"I know. That damn strap cut a gash that makes it hard to talk and probably swallow but I'm sure Granny Fay, that's my grandmother behind you with the foul smelling crap, has something to help that too," Bryan assured him, moving the hand back to the bed but being careful when he remembered the younger man also had burns on his arms and hands from where they'd touched the hot metal chair.

"You're safe and that damn vampire is long gone. His bones are dust because Dean burned them himself so believe it or not this will get better…" he trailed off as one eye struggled to open to shoot him a look that was pure Winchester and he sighed. "Fine, it's like I told Dean earlier. You won't be out ganking ghosts next week but if you survived what the bitch did then I think once you and Dean have one of those moments he hates to have with anyone but you then it'll get better."

The smell of blood, dried skin, infection and whatever was in the ointment made Bryan wish for an open window but he understood that Sam was in shock and didn't need any air getting close to him or risking infection.

Sam shuddered as another layer of foul smelling cream was slathered on to be wiped off after a minute and with every swipe of a clean soft cloth the badly blistered and burned skin on his back seemed to not be as bad even though the pain would remain far longer since the skin would be like a very bad sunburn.

Recalling something he'd seen Dean do both when they'd been teenagers and he'd been calming a hurt Sam down as well as when he'd been trying to soothe his brother through the worst of his recovery last month, Bryan took a deep breath before slowly reaching a hand out to push back an unruly bunch of hair away from Sam's bruised and starting to peel face.

He felt the expected jerk since even as a kid Sam didn't care for anyone but Dean touching him at times but since he knew his grandmother would soon begin to spread the ointment over the worst of the blistered skin on the back of Sam's arms Bryan knew a distraction would be in order.

"I'd regale you of tales of the things Dean and I got into with Caleb but Gran's here and most of it would probably make her want to resurrect Cal long enough to swat him with something," he relaxed marginally when he thought he saw the corner of Sam's dried lips twitch as if to offer a weak grin.

"I have a nifty spell in a book in the basement that's just for such cases so you better watch that sass you're given', Bryan," Granny Fay remarked without looking up though her ears were still good enough to catch the sharp breath her grandson offered.

This time there was no mistaking the way Sam's one eye pried itself open to stare at the Fed curiously even though it was plain his head was no way fully coherent yet but still Bryan figured he and Sam were sharing the same thoughts right then.

"Gran! What I tell you about doing that kind of stuff?" he complained, now remembering why his father had always complained about coming to Weston. "Healing people, the herbs, hell…even this smelly crap is one thing but spellwork? C'mon, you're killin' me here."

"You givin' up the Federal work to go back to hunting?" Fay asked flatly, not seeming concerned as she continued to work on Sam's burns while feeling the occasional twitch of muscles under her fingers.

"No! Maybe…I don't know," Bryan fought the urge to snap since this had been another long time argument between them since his grandmother didn't approve of his career choice. "The clearance of being a Fed gives me some leeway in some things I do, especially if I have to keep bailing these two outta the fire."

Looking back down when he thought he heard a sound like a soft snort of derision at that comment, he shook his head. "Does Dean know how many of his bad habits you actually do have, Sam?" he asked easily, not expecting and not getting any indication of Sam even being awake again.

"You may as well give it up since it seems to me that you and that partner of yours do more hunting than actual work," Granny Fay did shoot a grin at her astonished grandson this time while keeping a wrinkled hand on Sam's shoulder as she carefully lifted the now tightening arm up a little to hear a whimper.

"Your body was kept tied in that horrid position so long that it wants to go back to it so it's going to mean working the muscles out to stop the pain inside, Sam. It will hurt and I wish we could wait for your brother to wake up but the longer this takes the worse it'll be on you, honey," she spoke in a soothing tone but was giving Bryan a hard look while moving her eyes as if directing him.

Chewing his bottom lip in concern, the former hunter turned Fed knew this needed to be done but also understood that his friend would be the better one to do it. "Gran, Sam's in shock. He doesn't really remember me so I doubt if he will you and…" he broke off when Sam jerked and he saw that he could actually see the muscles in Sam's arms wanting to curl back up like they'd been while tied. "Fine, but can't you give him something to stop the pain?"

"The ointment will help that and I'm sure Sky's got a few things that'll help him once she gets here. Until then keep him calm," Fay ordered, reaching for a different tin with a much weirder smelling salve. "This isn't the part of healing that his brother needs to handle this time."

"Dean didn't need to handle what he did last month either but he's Dean so there is no other way for him since he's always been the one to look after Sam," Bryan countered, surprised at the weak grip on his wrist and seeing the new tear tracks on Sam's cheeks as the wetness leaked out from under his lashes. "It's going to be fine, Sam. I'll be here until Dean wakes up and…what?"

Sam's lips moved but no words come out and the Fed worried that the long it went that he didn't try to speak the harder it would become to get him to but Bryan also understood the pain even swallowing must be for Sam with the gash.

"You're slipping, boy," Fay snorted, hearing her front door open and close with a slam, wondering why none of her grandchildren could enter the house without slamming that door. "He's asking if his brother's safe?"

"Yeah, he's got a lump on his head and some bruises and stitches but he's mainly freaked out about you," Bryan reassured the silent young hunter, guessing what Sam's concern was and understanding it. "You know Dean so you should know why he does the things he does, Sam but save that for your brother. You're about to remake the acquaintance of my bratty little sister who may or may not seem worse than the any monster you've ever hunted."

Sam was still in pain but between the exhaustion he still felt to the pain to the way whatever the foul smelling salve was doing to take the worst of the burn out of his afflicted skin it was getting harder for him to stay even semiconscious much less alert enough to notice when a mini war erupted next to the bed before small smooth hands began to touch him.

He was relieved that Dean hadn't been hurt which was Sam's biggest fear and while he had more questions than he liked right then, he just wanted the pain to stop and to hear his brother's voice so he could be sure this wasn't all a dream where he might wake back up in that damn dark box unable to move or even try to scream for help or for Dean when he could hear his brother through the haze of pain.

"You hurt him worse I am not keeping Dean from shooting you, Sky," Bryan's voice seemed to be getting farther away and finally Sam stopped fighting it, allowing his mind to slip back into the void until he could hear the voice he wanted to hear with him.

**Some Hours Later:**

Fresh clean air along with a rumbling stomach and pain woke Dean Winchester from a nearly dreamless sleep. He'd be curious as to how in the hell he'd slept without dreaming if he wasn't jerking upright in the bed at a sound from somewhere down the hall.

Rapidly blinking his eyes to try to place things it only took a look in the mirror across the room at the stitches between his neck and shoulder and he was tossing off the quilt that someone had laid over him in his haste to get into the hall when he finally placed the sounds he was hearing.

"Sammy," he recalled his mild breakdown in the shower and could only guess the lack of sleep, the bump on his head, the shock of what few wounds he had and the strain of worrying over his brother had caused him to black out for however long it was.

Groaning when a look at his watch showed that he'd been sleeping for at least eight hours and that meant his little brother had been without him in a house with people Sam wouldn't know for eight hours. "_Sonuvabitch_!"

"You and my grandson seem fond of that word."

Fay Cabot had just been opening the door when he jerked it open and Dean had to work hard to keep his much larger body from bowling the old woman over in his haste to get to Sam.

"Uhhh," he was at a loss for a reply to that when his head jerked toward the sound of his brother's torn and ragged voice in between a cry of pain and a moan. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's scared, confused, and his muscles are causing him pain," Fay replied, laying a hand on his arm as if in restraint so she could finish explaining Sam's condition. "He's been in and out of consciousness. He wants you though he'd only hit Bryan hard enough once to nearly break his nose but…he's not very happy right now. It's taking longer to uncramp his arms and legs than I thought it would."

Thinking of one other time Sam's muscles had been cramped up after being tied up for far too long, Dean remembered the pain his brother had been in and how hard he had to rub to get that pain and the tiny little pins and needles to go away.

Now after being burned so badly on his arms, he dreaded even the thought of the extra pain Sam would have to be put in when the next sound he heard had him slipping past the older woman to bolt down the hall to Sam's room.

"_Son of a goddamn bitch_!" Bryan had avoided the wild fist that nearly bloodied his nose again but he wasn't fast enough to dodge the open hand that shoved him away from the bed and into the wall behind the door. "I swear to God if I didn't want shot I'd knock you out again, kid," he growled, glaring at the reason behind Sam's weak but heartfelt struggling. "It's your pretty face I'm trying to keep him from smashing so I'd lay off the laughing, Sky or…oh, shit."

Skylar Cabot was barely 5'6" and weighed less than 130 pounds soaking wet but as she straddled Sam's lower legs to carefully work with all her strength at massaging the kinks and cramps out of the legs she thought it very funny that her big and tough older brother couldn't manage to keep Sam's arms still as the pain of the cramps and her work on them made him try to get away from the bed.

"He's barely got the strength of a fly right now and that's the fourth time in three hours that he'd shoved you, Bry," she chided with an accent that was pure Cajun and nothing like her brother's more moderate voice that hardly carried the accent any longer. "I think you need to take some classes or something or…well, well, if it ain't Dean Winchester as I live and breathe."

"I'm not promising how much longer you'll be doing either, Sky," Bryan snapped, shoving to his feet to step in front of his grim faced just woken up friend as he stepped into the room to take the scene in with one glancing growl. "Dean…"

All Dean saw upon entering was his little brother struggling weakly, pain obvious on his face and in his still slightly glassy and too big for Dean's liking eyes, while a small girl…young woman he quickly corrected himself was kneeling on Sam's lower legs while attacking his own thigh with both hands while giving him a bright smile.

"Off," was all he said in a voice that only the worst kind of monster or offender received as he took another step to feel the firm hand on his bicep and only because he recognized the grip did he not swing and actually break his friend's nose. "Get her off."

"Dean, his legs are the worst right now and Sky, despite what it looks like, actually does know what she'd doing," Bryan nudged himself between his sister and his friend but figured he didn't have to bother because the moment Sam turned his head and caught sight of his brother that was where Dean's attention locked.

Dean had his doubts if the slip of a girl kneeling and working the tight and locked muscles did know what she was doing but he knew who she was and made a mental note to slap his friend for bringing her into this.

"Hey, little brother," he decided to trust Bryan for the moment as he locked eyes with Sam, approaching to sit on the edge of the bed and catching the hand that grasped for his and as he did this he gave his brother a swift once over.

He'd seen the wounds, the burned skin, the blisters, bite marks and bruises that covered Sam's upper body as well as the bruises the ropes had put on him so as he looked now, surprised to see Sam on his back since it had been a mess of raw, blistered and bloody skin before he'd passed out.

While he couldn't see Sam's back, what he could see didn't seem as bad. As he caught the hand, he gently turned it so he could see the back where he knew had been raw and bloody from being against the super-heated chair and now while the burns were there but the skin seemed to have healed quickly even if it would still hurt to massage the muscles.

"This would be a lot easier if he didn't have the jeans on," Sky complained, tossing long braided black hair over her shoulder as she sweated in the hot room since her grandmother refused to open the window. "Can we…"

"No," two stern voices cut her off in a way that reminded her way too much of when Bryan was a teenager and she'd met the Winchesters for the first time.

"Fine, make it hard on me," she muttered under her breath but went back to squeezing the muscle with both long fingered hands until she felt it slowly loosen up. "Since there are two of you now, try working on his arms," she paused to smirk. "I doubt if he can hurt you boys too much if you gang up on him."

Bryan growled at her as he went behind her, giving the braid a swift tug just to hear her squeal while he sat on the chair that was still by the bed.

Sam hadn't let anyone but Dean sit on the edge beside him and he'd done all he could in his weakened state to keep Skylar from touching him once he woke up to feel her on his legs.

"He's still not talking," he spoke to Dean casually, ignoring his sister's curses in some language she'd picked up from their grandparents. "Gran said he could talk but it will hurt but he's not saying actual words unless it's your name and then you have to be looking at him to know he tried to say it."

Nodding his understanding, Dean finished his visual exam before reaching up to place a hand on the side of Sam's face to get it to stop turning so he could meet his eyes. "Sammy, look at me."

Waiting until his brother's gaze switches from shooting a weak bitch face at Skylar to watching him, Dean was relieved to know that Sam appeared to be understanding him which he'd been worried about considering the abuse his brother had suffered on top of nearly running out of oxygen in that damn box.

"Okay," he let out a slow breath while putting a hand out to block Sky's touch from going any further up Sam's thigh since the last thing he needed was his little brother in a panic attack. "Bryan."

Understanding by the tone of voice used and by the way Dean's eyes moved what he wanted, the Fed frowned slightly but slowly nodded. "Sky, go see what Gran's doing before she does something she shouldn't with two hunters in the house," he urged, giving her a not so subtle push while nodding to the door.

"Oh, you mean like calling something up in that cauldron she keeps in the basement for her really cool work?" Sky chuckled at the way her brother's smile went dark but she got the point, sliding off the bed to place both hands on Dean's neck to lean over to kiss his cheek. "You're still cuter than Bry ever got."

"Out, brat," Bryan hissed, rubbing his tired eyes with the back of his hand while waving the complaints off. "She spent a year in the Orient learning all these damn massage techniques because she got it in her head to open up a massage parlor in New Orleans. Sky got most of the kinks and cramps out before he woke up, Dean," he explained the purpose of his sister's presence. "I wanted to keep her clear since she's more outgoing than I thought he was ready for but…"

"I know," Dean sighed, surprised to still feel tired but wanting to focus on his brother now and to do that he wanted them to be alone. "Heard he hit you a few times," he smirked at the glare as his friend lightly touched the bruise on his nose and on his jaw. "Homeland Security not teaching you to duck, Bry?"

Bryan offered his friend a swift gesture since he could while his grandmother wasn't in the room, feeling Sam's eyes going back and forth between them as he laid a hand on Dean's still bare shoulder. "I'll bring some coffee up and find you a shirt before Gran wants to check those wounds herself and…" he cut off as something seemed to make a loud noise from below and both men heard a shout. "I swear if she summons anything I will banish it before it gets close to Sam."

"Isn't she too old to still be doing that sort of crap?" Dean called right before the door shut and he was quick to cover his grin at the exasperation on his friend's now livid face. "Didn't she promise Jim to just stick with the herbal stuff?"

Accepting that his grandmother was an honest to goodness if well-meaning old time Cajun lady who believed in her home remedies and folk lore tales over modern medicine while his grandfather came from a line of hunters, it took a lot to handle even now that she was probably in the basement whipping up a healing recipe of some type and Bryan just shook his head. "She had her fingers crossed that time and she'll probably still be doing that hoodoo when she's a hundred and on her deathbed. I'll be back."

Bryan shut the door to give his friend the privacy he wanted while he took the stairs from the third floor to the first two at a time, especially when he caught his sister with a fire extinguisher. "Oh, hell no. We agreed no fires in the house anymore," he growled, wondering which side of his life is less dangerous.

Waiting a couple seconds to try to settle the nerves that he hadn't known had built, Dean finally coughed to cover the silence before looking back to see that Sam was watching him but his eyes were also staring at the stitches on the base of Dean's neck.

"Okay, flat out…I'm suspending the chick flick rule for probably the next…three weeks, more if we need it," he took a deep breath before letting his hand move to ease the gauze pad away from Sam's throat and was a little surprised to see it healed better than he expected it to be until it began to hit him why his brother was healing so well. "Let me guess, a bunch of foul and disgusting smelling salve that had Bryan gagging or asking for a gas mask most of the time Granny Fay was using it?"

Sam's nose wrinkled a little at the memory, swallowing hard but still not saying a word though he gaze did move between Dean's worried green eyes to the stitches again as if in question.

"Got tossed into some wooden crates and bit once but…I'm okay," Dean shrugged, smirking at the bitch face. "Yeah, when you actually speak something vocally then you can complain until then let me finish working out the kinks so the little devil in heels won't get it in her head to try again," he waited to give Sam a chance to relax more before checking his arms.

Sam's arm muscles didn't feel as tight or bunched as they had earlier even though he still showed the bruises because while Fay's salves may have worked wonders on the burns and blisters but bruises always needed to heal on their own or so he'd been told years ago.

"Just shake 'em out every now and then or show me where they hurt the most," he told Sam before moving down to the bottom of the bed so he could still watch Sam's face for pain or emotion but carefully began to kneed the tight and locked up muscles in his upper thighs, one leg at a time.

"You not talking because it hurts too bad or is there something else I should know, Sam?" Dean guessed it was a combination of the pain that had been there, the fear of the pain still being there and just plain shock because any time Sam was hurt to this degree he'd go quiet and Dean would have to pull the words out of him until he could get the walls to start to break.

He didn't know what else Benny had done or said to his brother and that was a huge issue since Dean hadn't wanted Sam to know too much either about Purgatory or things since his return.

Dean heard the bed break, looking up to see Sam attempting to push himself up and took a break on working on the muscles to help him. "Easy, Sammy," he kept his touch light as he took a look at his brother's back, wondering if Bryan really knew just what else his grandmother must have been doing in the past eight hours to have allowed Sam to heal so well.

Sam's back had been a mess and it had turned Dean's stomach to think of the agony his little brother would go through in the coming weeks as the burned skin healed, peeled and healed again.

Now as he looked while helping him lean against the pillows stacked against the headboard the elder Winchester still could see some raw spots that needed tending to, the skin was still red and painful but nothing like it should've been and for that he was willing to grudgingly overlook the how part of it.

Touching a finger to the remainder of a scar of where Sam's shoulder had been bitten more than once, Dean felt a surge of anger but tamped it down because getting angry now wouldn't help them since right then Sam was in the stage that he'd retreat more into himself if he believed his brother was mad at him.

"Okay, so while you're in the mood of not talking yet I'm going to get this out. I…I'm sorry, Sammy," Dean began, going back to rubbing and squeezing Sam's legs through the denim because considering things he wouldn't even consider asking his brother to shed the jeans right then. "This shouldn't have happened and…I should've dealt with Benny the first time I realized he might be a threat to you."

Alternating between rubbing the leg to using the strength of his fingers to squeeze to moving it up and down to make sure that movement didn't cause a new cramp, Dean kept his focus on that and off of what he was struggling to say and away from Sam's face for the moment because he knew one tear or worse, one puppy dog look and he'd be lost.

"I don't know what he told you but I can guess. I can also guess some of the things you probably heard on that damn phone so I'm going to do this and then call do over once you're healed fully," he eased back a little at the soft hiss he heard but frowned at the knotted muscle on the left leg, only have to give a warning squeeze to get Sam to keep it still.

Ever since the events in Texas last month when the time that Sam had been on his own for a year had come to light Sam still was getting over it and still had problems with being touched even by Dean but this time the muscles needed worked out or else Sam wouldn't be able to walk without cramping or falling.

"I know I've kept you at arm's length about Purgatory except to say that it was…pure but that was the fighting aspect of it. Down there it was a fight every damn day, nearly every hour of the day to just stay alive and I didn't have to worry about holding back or not letting myself get too far out of control because I learned early on that to stay alive I had to lose that piece of myself that Hell hadn't managed to wipe out."

Dean's voice dropped to the low, rough tone it took on when discussing things that he really didn't want to but accepted that once again he needed to talk if only to answer any questions that Sam may come up with later on. "Sammy, I did things down there I'm not proud of and I never wanted you to know about them. Killing or just surviving, I did what I needed to just to be able to get back here.

"Working with Benny it was never something I enjoyed, Sam. Down there it was a have to case since he knew the way out, he knew the spell to get out but…the first time he…" he paused a moment as he could still recall the shock and pain of the first time in Purgatory that Benny had pinned him to a tree and sank his fangs into his skin. "I didn't sleep well down there. You couldn't sleep really cause the things down there were always lurking but that time I'd been hurt and wasn't alert.

"Afterwards, it got to the point where it was either fight and risk him breaking am arm or killing me outright or letting him feed just to get back here. Getting help by a vampire was one thing since I believed I was using him more than the other way around but being fed on…that was something else but eventually I filed it away under another of those things I did to survive that little brother would never know about."

Making himself focus on rubbing and working out the kinks and knots Dean nearly jumped when he felt the hesitant touch on his back where an obvious scar from one of those more recent bite marks but didn't move away.

"Once I got back, once I did my part to complete the deal we'd made down there I thought it was over. When I left him down here where his bones were buried I figured that was it but it turned out that it wasn't that simple. He called and kept calling until it ended up in that time where you first had to find out about him," he sighed again, shaking his head but it was mostly aimed at himself.

"Sammy, I didn't tell you about Benny…I didn't want you to know about him not because he was a vampire since then I could always toss Lenore back at you but I didn't want you to know about him because the farther away from him I could keep you the safer it was for you," he let his hands continue the brisk rubbing down Sam's legs until he reached his ankles and made himself look at the souls of Sam's feet to see how bad those burns were now.

"I'd told Benny the night I helped him kill his maker, on that island, that I couldn't do it anymore. I needed to figure out what was up with you because something didn't feel right and maybe if I'd been paying more attention to you, to us, than I could've come up with a better way to divert you away from that case with Martin than to send you right back into the bitch's line of sight…Sammy,"

Dean's voice was still quiet but warning the first time he felt his brother tense at the mention of being drugged, kidnapped and abused for days last month. He hated that this had managed to erase all the healing that Sam had been doing to overcome those memories.

"The scar you just touched…that's where he bit me the night on the island when he mentioned that our deal wasn't quite over and that if I thought it was then perhaps it was time he met my baby brother. I couldn't do that, Sam. I couldn't take the damn risk of him hurting you so that's why I helped him, not because we were friends or anything and…" Dean stopped to finally turn back so he could look at Sam now and wasn't surprised by the tears he could see swimming in eyes that were almost clear and normal sized.

"I've pushed you away, I've said crap to you that I would normally be dead or possessed before saying because I wanted you to steer clear of him, of what Purgatory did to me, of what I let him do just to keep any of it from touching you," he reached up to tip Sam's drooped chin up so their eyes met. "When I said he was a better brother than you? When I said that Benny had my back? Want me to tell you how many times I threw up that night?

"After I made sure you were asleep fully and you thought I was out at the bar, I was in the back of the motel puking my guts out because I'd hurt you and no matter how good you've gotten at hiding your emotions from me you still can't, not when I say crap that cuts into your heart," Dean offered a small smile while keeping his movements slow and always where his brother could see them.

"This is the part where, if you were speaking, you'd be doing the bitch face while telling me that you can take care of yourself and that you could've handled it if I'd been honest with you or talked to you about it and I'm not saying that you couldn't handle a vampire or that you can't take care of yourself because I know you can. Hell, I've seen you do it but this wasn't about any of that," he moved his hand down to wrap his fingers around the back of Sam's neck like he used to do.

Leaning closer while gently squeezing his brother's neck in comfort and support which was another thing Sam would only allow him to do, Dean ran his free hand over the worst bite mark and wished the vampire could have suffered as much as Sam has this time.

"It was about trying to keep a promise I made to you once when I said nothing bad would ever happen to you while I was around," Dean felt the slight jerk under his hand but didn't move his hand or ease back as he figured he'd may as well go for broke. "I suck at keeping that promise, Sammy and I thought I could this time but I didn't count on how far Benny would go when I told him this last time that we were done.

"I figured he'd come after me in the first week and I made the mistake of letting my guard down, leaving you alone and the bastard knew exactly that if I had any weak spot left it was you because no matter what else may happen, or how we fight or whatever the hell else, you'll always be my little brother and I will still rip someone's lungs out if they touch you."

Letting their foreheads touch briefly, Dean gave another squeeze on Sam's neck before nudging him back to the pillows to rest when he noticed how he was starting to shake. "Time for you to sleep while I go find a shirt, some coffee and remind Bryan that he can't commit a capital offense by murdering anyone…unless that old woman tries to come near me with that crap she calls a herbal remedy," he'd begun to get up only to stop when he felt the grasp on his wrist.

Sam had listened to what his brother had said but he'd also heard the more unspoken words under them, understanding more now why Dean had been so anxious and testy those first weeks after getting free of Purgatory.

In some way it must have been like the first weeks after getting out of Hell and once again Dean had found himself battling inner demons while trying to protect Sam only instead of protecting Sam from either Ruby or angels he'd been fighting to keep him safe from Benny and from memories that Dean hadn't wanted to face.

He'd used the time while his brother had been rubbing the last remaining kinks and pins and needles out of his legs to take stock of Dean's back since he couldn't recall a time since his return that his brother had been without a shirt and he had to wonder if that was one of the reasons Granny Fay had decided to do laundry early that morning.

Dean's basic response and action before getting up anytime would be to grab for the shirt he always made certain was close at hand and now Sam understood why because there was no way to mistake the more casual monster scars from scars from by fangs and bite marks.

Something else Dean had said always hit Sam. His brother had suspected his story of why he didn't look for Dean was weird and had tried to break the deal with Benny to focus more on it, on healing some of the bitterness between them which had been something that still bothered Sam.

Ever since they burned the cabin in Montana, Dean hadn't pressed Sam too much to talk about either the time last year in Kermit when the nightmare began or more recently but that also meant they hadn't talked about the fact if Dean understood or not that it wasn't that Sam hadn't wanted to look but more like he couldn't.

Now more at ease that Dean did understand that, Sam could begin to let that concern go and focus on other issues…like his brother letting a vampire feed from him just to protect him.

Sam could tell Dean that he'd heard what else Benny had talked about while his brother was unconscious since that was the point of leaving the phone lines connected. He could tell him that he knew exactly what else had happened to Dean in Purgatory but chose not to.

He knew that now Dean would open up at his own speed so long as Sam did the same and he supposed that was what they meant by slow healing.

The burns were the worst wounds from this ordeal and while Sam knew they should still be worse than what they were he didn't care to question it since that would make him question just how far into that elusive gray area they'd stumbled into this time because he was fairly certain that white haired feisty little old lady was a lot more than a normal grandmotherly type.

"Sammy?"

He didn't realize his fingers were wrapped around Dean's wrist as tight as he could manage then until his brother spoke, tone curious and more than a little worried.

Except for hisses or sounds of pain or downright moans, Sam had avoided speaking. He didn't want to speak to anyone about what had happened unless it was his brother. He also hadn't spoken because it damn well hurt.

Now though as he watched Dean's face slowly go from mildly concerned to full-fledged worried, he took a slow deep breath before forcing himself to swallow several times to wet his dry mouth just as Dean was grabbing a bottle of water from the nightstand.

Managing a few small sips of cold water, Sam closed his eyes. "… … Stay…?" he managed to get out past dry lips, blinking back the few tears that the burning in his throat brought to the surface. "Where…?"

"Weston, Louisiana. Bryan's grandmother's place…until she burns it down or blows it up if she's still doing stuff in the basement like she did when you were a kid," Dean replied, sitting back down.

The coffee and clothes were forgotten if Sam wanted him to stay and had actually spoken to request it then that's what he'd do. "Sammy, I'm…"

"Not…your fault, De'n," Sam's voice was hoarse and ragged both from not using it and from screaming in pain and while in that box. "Didn't see it…coming. I…I should've been…"

"I should've come clean with you about Benny. You would've known he wasn't really a friend and you wouldn't have turned your back on him," that was something that Dean would be dealing with for months to come.

Dean knew that if he'd just been honest with Sam in the first place that his brother wouldn't have been caught off guard. "I thought I could handle it. I thought when he didn't do anything right away that he'd gotten himself under control but…I was wrong and you could've died."

"Knew…you'd come," Sam whispered, more tired now that his arms and legs weren't aching as badly and he swore the burns weren't hurting quite as much. "More…worried about you but…" he blinked but forced a little grin as the water bottle was back. "Not sure…I wanna see much…sun for a while."

"No, I think we're driving at night for the next little bit," Dean agreed without mentioning that he'd been considering that anyway as he let his fingers card back through his brother's hair to push it out of tired eyes. "Scared me this time, little brother. When you weren't in that damn first box I nearly lost it and then when I saw that he'd buried you alive…"

He couldn't quite hide the shudder the worked through him at the memory of that or of first seeing Sam when Bryan had gotten the lid off to reveal a tied, scrunched up, burned, battered and barely breathing Sam which was another nightmare that Dean figured he'd be having for the next few months.

"He…said he'd made it…for you but that…it work for me," Sam refused to tell his clearly still upset older brother how much numbing fear being put in that box had filled him with. "Is he…"

"Dead. Beheaded dead, bones burned to dust in his own goddamn metal box type of dead and if I could kill him again for touching you, for biting you, for trying to cook my little brother I'd do it," Dean assured him firmly, meaning it.

Sam seemed content with that as he slowly moved until he was laying down more, not asking but also not surprised when his brother shifted so he could lean his back against the headboard. "You hurt, Dean?" he asked through a yawn, not aware that his throat wasn't hurting as much the more he spoke even if his voice was still quiet and a little ragged.

"Not as bad as you, geek boy," Dean responded easily, getting more comfortable on the bed since he knew if Sam did what he expected him to that he'd be sitting there until his brother woke up again. "Of course, give Granny Fay enough time and I'm sure we'll both be feeling better. Though Bry might be having a stroke," he smirked as he recalled that his friend hadn't always been happy with some of his grandmother's ways.

"Don't we kill witches, De'n?" Sam yawned, his body's exhaustion overtaking him now that he knew where his brother was and could allow himself to feel safe again.

That was an interesting question since Dean hated witches and true enough as hunters they did normally do just that. "Yeah, but we don't kill little old Cajun grandmothers, Sammy," he answered after a moment, adding with a chuckle. "Especially ones with grandsons that I owe big time."

"De'n?" shifting without considering the risk of pain to burns or bruises, Sam moved closer until his head was against Dean's shoulder like he would do when they were younger and the best pillow in his opinion was his brother.

"Yeah, Sammy?" Dean grinned, letting his head rest back while casually keeping his one hand on the back of Sam's neck to reassure his brother that he was with him and would be so that hopefully the nightmares would steer clear for the moment.

Opening one eye to gaze up at his brother, Sam yawned again before slowly allowing himself to slip under. "Stay away from Sky, De'n. She'll eat you alive."

"No arguments there," Dean agreed, fully intending to avoid Bryan's sister for the rest of their stay if for no other reason than he didn't want to face the business end of Fay Cabot's shotgun if she thought he was moving in on her granddaughter. "Go to sleep, Sammy."

"Stay?" Sam didn't want to be alone again. Not because he didn't trust the people in the house but because he was still having a hard time accepting that Dean would stay after having to deal with first the mess last month and Amelia to all of this crap.

"I'm not going anywhere, baby boy," the nickname was rarely used and only when Dean wanted to either tease his brother or make a point and it was also something Sam only tolerated from him. "It's not like I could move anyway with your Sasquatch ass using me for a pillow," he teased, tone reflecting that.

Dean waited until Sam had relaxed fully into sleep before sliding his eyes toward the door. "If you didn't bring me coffee I will wait until he's awake and shoot you," he threatened.

"Gran bitched but I told her it was coffee or Jack so she decided coffee was good," Bryan Markus stepped into the room with a mug of steaming coffee and a t-shirt. "If you want food I'm pretty sure I can manage that since now that she's done nearly blowing us up she's cooking for an army."

The mention of food reminded the elder Winchester that he hadn't eaten in a while but chose to wait until he could have the ever wonderful food argument with Sam since getting his pain in the ass little brother to eat after being hurt or sick was not fun for him.

"I owe you for helping me…again," Dean hated to be in anyone's debt and that still showed in the tightness around his eyes as his friend straddled a chair.

"Yep," Bryan agreed, knowing how his friend felt which is why he didn't shrug it off. "One day I'll call those markers in but for right now how about you try to stay out of trouble for a couple months so I can convince my boss and my partner I'm not going to ditch again?"

When he'd called Bryan he hadn't considered that he might be in the middle of an assignment. "How much trouble will this get you into?" he asked with a frown, trying to sip the coffee without wincing too much and wondering just what had been slipped into it. "Shit, Bry…I didn't think…"

"It wouldn't be the first job I've ditched…just the first in a couple years," Bryan shrugged now, not seriously concerned since his partner had seemed more amused than upset and his superior had just sounded resigned to chalking it off to another of those odd quirks the agent seemed to have. "I wouldn't have turned you down, Dean," he declared, turning serious. "You don't ask for help normally so I knew when you did that it was serious though we do need to talk about your choice in friends."

"Benny wasn't what I'd call a friend," Dean said the name quieter than usual because he hadn't missed the way Sam would tense at it before and now it would be worse. "I can list the people I still consider friends on one hand and luckily I guess that still applies to you, Cabot," he smirked at the glare, fingers flexing to soothe automatically when Sam made a restless sound while sitting the cup aside. "What she spike it with by the way?"

"Say again?" the second the question registered, Bryan grabbed the mug to smell first before tasting a little of the coffee and only someone familiar with Fay Cabot's herb cabinet would be able to taste the mixture that would both ease Dean's pain but also relax him so that he could sleep rather than stay awake to brood. "Shit! Dean, I'm sorry. I didn't…"

Dean waved it away, confident enough in his friend's ability to handle the situation that he didn't mind sleeping since he knew Sam was safe. "Just keep the she devil in heels away, huh?"

"Sky's going back to Baton Rouge tonight. Mainly because she's at the age where Gran thinks she should be… hell, maybe I should be scooting you two out too," Bryan frowned as that thought bugged him but then he noticed his friend's closed eyes and relaxed posture even though Dean's fingers never stopped moving as they stayed on his brother's neck.

"I'm going to kill my grandmother," he decided, spells to heal Sam's burns or remove pain were one thing, herbal salves that smelled rank were fine but when the old woman stooped to spiking coffee even if it was for Dean's own good…no, he'd had it.

Fay Cabot was stirring a pot on her old wood stove when her irate grandson entered. "Boy's sleeping and not tossing or pacing or fretting, ain't he?" she challenged, well aware of what Bryan was angry with. "If he would've sat in there while the little one slept he would've got more on edge. This way he can sleep and they'll both feel better. You consider your next words carefully too."

Eyeing the wooden spoon that she was waving in his direction, Bryan considered what he wanted to say to what he felt safe in saying before rolling his eyes. "Just don't do it when they're both awake and back to normal."

"Boy, I was married to a hunter for over sixty years. I know what to do with your kind when you're hurtin'" she chided, shoving a bowl at him. "Eat and then go fix that thing you swear is a car so I can go into town when you leave."

Groaning about his grandmother driving and about her going into town, Bryan wondered just what kind of mischief she'd get into once he was gone and then chose to avoid that thought.

**A week later:**

"You make certain he stays outta direct sunlight for at least another week, two if you can manage it," Granny Fay was poking a long bony finger in Dean's chest as she finished giving him care instructions for his brother. "You use that salve on the rest of those burns and keep those boots off when he can until the salve takes care of the last few blisters on his feet and…"

"I've been looking after Sammy since he was six months old. I think I can handle this now," Dean was hard pressed not to chuckle, especially when Sam let out a low snort from the passenger seat but then the old woman was going around the car to give him an earful about sassing off too much. "Bobby had nothing on her," he muttered under his breath.

"Bobby Singer was scared to death of my grandmother and you know it," Bryan snorted, tossing his jacket into the car his partner had so helpfully delivered the day before. "You two going to be okay?" he asked in concern.

The last week had seen Sam showing vast improvements in not only these injuries but also the remaining ones he'd had since Texas.

The younger Winchester had only had one bout with a fever but it had been Dean's stitches that had gotten infected which had sent the old woman off on a lecture that Bryan needed to learn what the hell he was doing.

Dean had given in to staying in Weston for the week because it gave Sam and him a chance to heal and to talk, something that he knew they wouldn't have done if not for the nosy interference of their hostess. It had also been nice to be able to just take a break and talk shop with Bryan on those moments when Sam was either sleeping or trying to reassure Fay that the computer her grandchildren bought her wasn't a possessed instrument of the devil.

"Yeah, we'll be good," Dean assured him, peeking in at Sam to see his brother had a rare smile on his face while Fay lectured him. "You going back to Fedland?"

"Probably," Bryan shrugged, kicking a loose stone with his boot. "Some cases we get lean more toward what you do or…at least the cases I personally look for do," he smiled at Dean's laugh. "I guess you can take the boy outta hunter but you can't ever really take the hunter outta the boy. It works until something better comes along and…" he paused to eye his friend with a look. "It also works when I have to cover for a couple wise ass hunters who tend to attract the wrong kind of trouble."

Dean knew better than to respond to that as he opened the Impala's door but paused before getting in. "Bry, if you ever do need us…call and Sammy'll and I be there," he told the other man seriously, extending a hand. "I meant that I owed you but…I owe you from before too."

"Cal and I helped you that time because it was right so you don't owe me shit for that, Dean," Bryan knew the time he meant but also understood that it wasn't to be mentioned with Sam this close. "As for this, yeah. I will," he agreed, accepting the hand before leaning down to peer into the car. "Hey, keep him outta trouble, Sam. I need a break from his ugly face."

"That's what I say sometimes," Sam grinned at his brother's low growl but bit his lip. "Bryan…thanks for helping him," he looked between the two men. "Not too many others would these days."

Bryan understood that but also understood that Sam was just as worried about Dean as the older one was about him. "That's my job, kiddo. Saving morons when they get in over their heads."

"Go back to your suit and tie, Cabot," Dean growled, slamming the door and not missing the yelp his friend gave when he was slapped in the arm by his grandmother.

Bryan watched the Impala drive away before reading for his own door. "So? Tell me," he'd waited as long as he was willing. "I know you've looked."

"You'll cross their path again but not in the way you might think," Fay seemed worried but what else she knew she kept to herself as she shooed the boy along. "Watch yourself, Bryan and watch out for them."

The Federal agent already knew he'd do that since he was only too aware that where Winchesters went trouble was sure to follow.

The Impala was quiet with just the radio playing low. Dean glanced over to see that Sam was curled against his door like he did when sleeping and he reached over to adjust the jacket his brother had over him.

"I'm sorry this happened, Dean."

"This wasn't your fault, Sam," his brother assured him, keeping a hand on the shoulder nearest him. "I tried too hard to do this on my own but nothing else is gonna try to eat or cook you…promise."

Sam smiled a little more, letting his hand reach to grasp the wrist that was on his shoulder. "We got a message from Kevin," he told his brother, hearing the groan. "He sounded…excited."

"Kevin excited?" Dean wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not but figured after another day or so of making sure Sam was healthy enough to do more than play on his laptop then maybe they'd go see what the little prophet wanted. "Fine, but I'm doing the heavy stuff."

"You can't sideline me, Dean," though Sam thought his brother had been doing a pretty damn good job of it this past week. "Also, you are nowhere no as scary as Granny Fay."

Of that Dean could agree with totally even if he hated to admit it but he glanced over with a smirk. "No, but I have her phone number and…I also got Sky's since I was told that little Sky has suddenly decided that you grew up quite nicely and…"

Sam's groan made Dean laugh as he punched in a tape while his brother fell to sleep, leaving Dean to wonder what the road would take them to next even as he made a promise to keep Sam safe from anything else that got too close because between sociopathic bitches to vengeful vampires, he was about ready to lock Sam in a glass bubble until Kevin got that damn half a tablet translated.

"We're gonna be good, Sammy," he whispered, confident of that as he relaxed with the sounds of AC/DC playing lowly and Sam's breathing evening off as he slept peacefully. "It's all gonna be good."

**TBC**

**A/N: **_This should've ended it and technically did but I needed to add one more chapter._


	5. Chapter 5

**Choose or Lose**

**Author Note:**_ So maybe it wasn't over with Chapter 4. I normally don't add on once I mark a piece complete but this one still felt like it had something missing so now be prepared for brother schmoop and bonding._

**Chapter Five**

"'_What the hell?'"_

"'_Can't always drink or feed from the monsters down here, Dean. Don't know where these things have been. I've always found it better to find my dinner in places I trust. You hold still now and this won't even leave a mark…you fight it and you might not survive to get back topside to that little brother you're so worried about.'"_

Jerking awake drenched in sweat, gasping for breath and reaching back to feel his shoulder as if expecting blood, Dean slumped back to the pillows to try to settle his ragged breathing.

He and Sam had been driving for a couple days since leaving Weston. The pattern was they'd drive at night so the hot southern sun didn't bother Sam's still sensitive skin and then crash at a motel during the day.

Neither had talked much about what had been happening lately and except for asking what had happened to Benny, Sam hadn't spoken either of what he'd gone through or what he was thinking now and in some way that bothered Dean.

Sam was pure emotion on his good days and while he had stopped being so open with them in the past few years, when he was hurt or upset then the emotions came out.

It had only gotten lately, after the events with the Richardson woman and her sex fiend pals last month that Sam had gotten to where he could sleep through the night without waking up screaming for the assaults to stop or yelling for Dean.

Since leaving Weston and being back on the road, Sam would sleep in the Impala but since Dean's only time to rest came when they were stopped during the day he wasn't certain what his brother did during those hours of being alone except he'd noticed the past couple that Sam seemed to be slightly more on edge rather than relaxed.

This would be the first time that they were staying over at the motel for more than a day and that was only because a sudden storm off the Gulf had blown in humidity that Dean hadn't felt in years and he'd chosen the air conditioned motel would be better than trying to drive in a storm or cope with heat and humid weather hot enough to even make Sam bitch.

It took a while for Dean's body to get back to normal on his sleeping schedule and he'd managed to stay awake the full day, ignoring the boredom that basic cable and no vibrating bed afforded him while watching Sam from the corner of his eye.

Sam was quiet and every once and while Dean would look up from the journal he was writing in to see that his brother was just staring off into space, a habit that Sam used to do when tired or upset and distracted by things in his often overworked brain.

It had taken a lot longer than normal to get his younger brother to settle down to sleep since Sam had gotten used to being up at night but he had finally stretched out on the bed farthest from the door and after about thirty minutes of tossing and turning had fallen into a seemingly restful sleep.

Dean had taken that to mean he could sleep since he was looking forward to driving tomorrow and getting them as far out of the South as he could to both escape the weather and also the memories. He sure as hell hadn't counted on being the one to wake up in a cold sweat.

It had been a long time since he'd hate that nightmare though as he scrubbed his hands over his face and through his short hair, spiky from sleep and sweat, he supposed he shouldn't be shocked he'd had one considering the past few weeks.

Benny turning on him hadn't been a shock but it had been that he'd allowed his guard to drop and his brother had almost paid the highest price for his mistakes.

Turning his head to glance over to see if his sudden waking had disturbed Sam only to bolt upright in bed at the realization that his brother was not only awake but also no longer in the bed.

"Sam?" Dean's hand slapped on the light between the beds while grabbing for his jeans as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden light when he heard the first sound and stopped to listen closer.

Jerking the jeans up his legs, he zipped them but didn't bother with the button as now fully alert green eyes were roaming the room to finally zero in on the half closed bathroom door and had a hunch he just found out what Sam did on those days when he slept.

No matter how much Dean assured his brother that things were going to get better and that he'd be there to help him over the huge bumps in the road to healing Sam still tended to pull inward rather than expend the pain and emotions inside.

Though again, Dean knew his brother probably feared risking approaching him for fear of being pushed away again or of Dean shutting down since chick flick moments were not the elder Winchester's favorite thing to handle on any given moment…but these weren't normal times and the rule had been sidelined.

"Sam?" calling quietly while giving a light tap on the door as to not alarm his brother, Dean stuck his head in to the room to frown when he saw the water in the shower was running and let his gaze work through the thinning steam as he stepped into the room. "Sammy?"

The sounds that had finally told Dean where Sam was didn't change or stop and nearly thirty years of being big brother gave him enough clues to recognize the barely muffled ragged and broken sobs coming from behind the thin flowered pink curtain.

Reaching in to turn off the running water, Dean pulled a towel off the rack but didn't pull the curtain back yet. Instead he sat down with his still bare back leaning against the cool porcelain tub/shower enclosure. "How long has this been going on, Sam?" he asked calmly, hearing the first hitch in his brother's breathing and knowing that Sam was aware that he was no longer alone in the room.

"Past couple…of days," Sam sounded tired, his voice still ragged from screaming through a gag and being choked by that damn leather strap. "You'd be asleep and…too many thoughts, memories would come back and…I didn't wanna wake you cause you need to sleep and…"

"And you sleep in the Impala because you've always been able to sleep in the car," Dean cursed himself out silently at not seeing this coming before now. "So…this the result of a nightmare or…?" he left it hanging until he was sure what he was dealing with.

The bathroom was small and the tub even smaller so Sam was scrunched back in it with his knees drawn up to his chin, allowing him room to bury his face in them to try to muffle the sounds and disturb his brother.

Now that he knew that plan was shot, he just turned so his head was laying on his knees while watching the silhouette of Dean's upper body through the curtain. "Nightmare, I think," he chewed his bottom lip while rubbing his hand over his eyes. "The room was hot, I got too hot and it just all came rushing back when I got tangled in the blanket…"

Sam paused to close his eyes. "I wanted to wake you but you haven't been sleeping right. Then I got sick and just wanted to wash it all away but…nothing comes off, De'n."

The broken tone and the way he shortened his name warned Dean that the days of quiet were about over and that he needed to handle this carefully…but first he needed to know what set it off. "This about Benny or the bitch?" he asked, still refusing to use the woman's name unless it was out of earshot of his brother.

"Both," Sam whispered, not missing the way Dean's shoulders tensed and could stop the shudder that passed through him.

The younger hunter still had the occasional muscle cramp but nothing as bad as he feared he would have since Benny's little rope fetish had only exaggerated the still sore and strained muscles that Sam had gotten from being tied to vicious ways the month previously by Amelia's games.

"Started out with Benny cause the heat around here, the way it got so humid in the room tonight was a lot like that box got after he…buried it but then just like a switch was thrown and I was feeling her again and…I want it to stop, Dean!" Sam's voice broke at the same time as he slammed a fist into the wall. "I get it. I'm cursed or something or someone up there still hates me but I want the feelings, the dreams, the goddamn guilt to stop!"

Dean had let his forehead rest on the arm that he'd laid over his one drawn up knee and he was listening to the silent tears that he knew Sam was pushing back but it was when the sound of flesh meeting solid wall and the last words hit home that he was immediately on his knees to pull back the shower curtain.

Grabbing onto the wrist just as it was about to slam into the wall again, he took in the fresh blood on Sam's knuckles but also noticed the way his brother's skin was red again from where he'd instinctively tried to rub the feelings chasing him away with too hot of water.

Sam's face was turned away but Dean didn't need to look at his brother's face to know what he'd see. Long ago learned instincts made him aware that he'd see eyes filled with tears and would be too huge and haunted looking as well as drying tear tracks on a face pale despite the heat of the water but that wasn't the worst of it for Dean.

It wasn't even still seeing the many scars or bruises that Granny Fay's salves hadn't been able to heal from this time and before. No, for Dean it was seeing the look of hurt, the same damn look of loss on his little brother's face as he had when Sam had been a child and either sick or scared and looking for his big brother to somehow make it alright again.

That look never failed to break Dean's emotional walls into shatters and even now it would break him, especially when he wasn't sure how to help his brother except to just be there for him…if he could get Sam to let him in.

Dealing with the fallout of injuries had been things both Winchesters grew up with but there had always been injuries that were worse to deal with and Dean always swore to himself that Sam would not continue to go through that pain.

Hell, Amelia's games…the drugs and what she and her friends did to Sam hadn't even been the first time that he'd gone through something similar but Dean tried to push events like when Sam was a teenager or those damn rednecks or even Becky to the back of his mind because if he thought too much it pissed him off and Sam shut down fully at the first change in his voice.

However, it was also Sam's mention of guilt that tugged at Dean until it hit him where that was going and his next moves were pure big brother.

"Up and out, little brother," Dean had a firm grip of Sam's bicep and had his brother on his feet, tugging him out of the tub to wrap the first towel around his waist before grabbing a second one to use later.

By the time Sam realized what was happening, he was being led back into the bedroom and sat on the bed while Dean rummaged through his duffel for clothes. "No…I…still feel…the bathroom's…" he went to push himself to his feet while eyeing the distance between the bed and the bathroom only to feel his brother crowd right into his space…something that Dean normally didn't do unless he needed to. "Dean?"

"You want to be in the bathroom because it's the only door in this room with a lock on it, Sam," Dean wasn't stupid.

Bathrooms with locks on the door were a quirk for Sam and had been since he'd been a teenager and had been hurt by some bastard that Dean and his friends had made damn certain the body was never found. That was why it had surprised Dean now that Sam had left the door partially opened compared to shut and locked.

"You know you're safe, right?" he asked, picking up the other towel when Sam made no move to dry himself off and just did it for him. "Benny's dead and…she's where she can't hurt anyone else," Dean still regretted the woman being alive after the horrors she'd put his brother through but he hadn't wanted the issues of dealing with Bryan if he'd just shot the bitch like he wanted to do. "Sammy…"

"I thought that before too," Sam murmured, turning his head to stare at the door but still heard the way his brother's breath caught and because he knew Dean, he knew to listen for the grinding teeth soon but nearly jerked when a hand gripped his chin to turn it back.

"I know and I know it's going to take you a long time to forgive me for being so wrong and so damn careless that I left you alone at Bobby's but I can promise you, Sammy…this will be the last goddamn time I let something from either of our pasts hurt you," Dean sat down on the bed after pulling a t-shirt on and put the towel in Sam's hands in hopes that he'd take the hint.

"It was my fault that the psycho bitch from Hell grabbed you last month because I tried to keep you away from Benny that time and sent you right back into her web and then I wasn't there to stop her from drugging you and…Sammy, stop," he laid a firm hand on the back of Sam's neck the first time he felt his brother's body go rigid but needed to do this.

"We went through this before I burned the cabin. It wasn't your fault but it sure as hell was mine. Just like this was my fault. I knew the risk Benny posed but believed I could handle it if he made a move. I wasn't counting on him going after you while I was away or I never would've gone to see Garth and Kevin.

"I should've gotten to that damn warehouse sooner, I should've been paying more attention when I didn't see him right away or…let's just face it and say I should've killed the son of a bitch the first time he hinted about threatening you," Dean blew out a harsh breath, rubbing his suddenly shaking hands in his jeans, while feeling Sam's eyes watching him.

Last month Dean had to fight to bring Sam out of the shell he'd built around himself and he'd hoped that he wouldn't have to do it this time because he had nothing to compare this to though as he sat there with thoughts running through his mind, he began to wonder what Sam was hiding to cause this reaction again.

"It's…not your fault, De'n," Sam whispered, surprised that his brother thought any of it was. "You didn't know to suspect anything about Am…Amelia," his voice broke as he had to force the name out while shoving the memories down when the towel in his clenched fist was tugged as a nudge to actually use it.

"Benny…you thought it was over. You thought he'd moved on so you would have no reason not to leave me alone or…" Sam didn't notice the way his tone of voice changed just slightly on that but where he didn't notice his big brother did and Dean pounced on it.

"Sam, do you blame me for leaving you alone and these things happened?" Dean asked carefully, keeping his eyes locked on the way Sam's hands shook.

He dried off and quickly dressed since it was still too easy to feel vulnerable when he was undressed even though he knew after the state he was in when Dean and Bryan rescued him this was nothing. "No. I can't blame you cause you had no way of knowing it would happen and I'm an adult, a hunter, and I should've been able to take care of myself in either case but…" he trailed off, needing to move but the hand on the back of his neck kept him still and like it always did began to settle him.

Narrowing his eyes, Dean ran through any number of possible causes for this reaction. He knew his brother was still in pain but they dealt with the wounds as they needed to be. No, this reaction…Sam's behavior, the nightmares, the shakes and his hesitance to meet Dean's eyes were usually brought on by internal pain and Lord knew the kid had been through any number of traumas to cause that.

Keeping the grip on Sam's neck light but still tight enough to keep him from bolting, Dean narrowed his list more. He was certain that the vampire hadn't done anything more to his brother than what he'd seen or knew about because that would've been the first thing Benny had tossed in his face so he crossed that off firmly just as a light nibble on the back of his mind began to build.

"What he tell you?" he asked quietly, guessing that Benny probably had revealed to Sam that other little detail that also hadn't helped Dean's nightmares shortly after returning from Purgatory and had also been a reason to keep Sam at an arms distance but no, he didn't think that was what was bugging his brother either.

Slowly Dean began to put the pieces together, biting his lip to keep what he wanted to say in for the moment until he was certain. "Sammy? Did you think I wouldn't look for you? Is that what you're hiding from me? Did Benny tell you that I wouldn't come or…" seeing the way Sam shifted away, his fingers tightened then he used his other hand to turn his face towards him. "What the _hell_ did the bastard say, Sam?"

Sam didn't want to answer. He didn't want to relive it or make his brother any angrier than he knew he'd been over this but when the fingers on the back of his neck slid to the side to better allow Dean to cup his face when he tried to look away it was plain he wasn't going to be able to avoid it.

"He said…he'd kill you or…make it so you couldn't find me or convince you that I was dead and…" he bit off when he felt his voice start to break and had to rub his eyes against the tears he tried not to let fall right then. "It was dark in that damn box, De'n. It was so damn dark and I was alone and…you didn't come!"

The first open handed blow to his chest took Dean off guard since it had been over a month since Sam had reacted physically to the emotional pain he was still coping with. The second blow surprised him but by the time he realized what was happening it was too late to do anything but let his little brother go until the tide was over.

It took a lot to push Sam into reacting physically like he was now but after events of last month to this attack to finally thinking he might very well die buried underground without his brother even knowing where to look it had all become too much.

A part of Dean also understood that a little of this still stemmed from Sam's fear of Dean not looking for him after his kidnapping last month since the woman's plan had been deviously perfect if not for one problem and that was that Sam has a big brother who wasn't as stupid as most people like to think.

Right then Dean forced himself to sit still and allow his brother to lash out like he hadn't been allowing himself to since he came out of the shell the attack has put him in. It wasn't easy because he really wanted to reach out to Sam, to pull his little brother into his arms to try to soften the harsh sobs that Sam didn't realize where wracking his body then but he didn't…he waited.

"You…let him bite you…let him feed from you…hurt you just to protect…me. He said he'd use me as bait and force you to give in or kill you and…or…I couldn't hear you and I thought…I thought you were dead, Dean! I thought I'd die and you were or that he…and if you hadn't been protecting me you wouldn't have…and…"

All of Sam's words were running together as his fists slowly went lighter and without as much strength behind them until finally the younger man pitched forward with a final sob to latch on to his brother when Dean simply kicked the no chick flick rule to the curb and wrapped both arms around the younger man to hold him through the stage of shaking and bone rattling sobs and the rest of the buried fears and emotions poured out of Sam.

Despite his fervor to get out of hunting, to have the so-called normal life Sam's one big issue ever since he'd been a child was being left behind or worse, being forgotten or left alone if anything ever happened to Dean or their Dad.

It went hand and hand with his hidden fears of dark cramped spaces because of things in their past only being trapped and tied in a box that was buried with the threat of Dean's death or the risk that Dean wouldn't look for him had jacked up the fear to a whole different level.

"Hey…Sammy, hey," he waited until a few more of the sobs eased off, feeling Sam's hands clutching at the back of his shirt as if he wanted to grab on but fear of further embarrassment held him back so Dean took that away by tightening the hug while beginning to move his hand in a soothing motion between Sam's neck and back like he would when his brother was small and running from a nightmare. "Shhh, go ahead and let it out, little brother. I've got'cha and I'm not leaving you."

Whether it was the exhaustion, the stress of keeping this inside for so many days or letting himself believe his brother's words, Sam wasn't sure and honestly didn't care. He hesitated briefly until feeling Dean nod as if understanding his hesitation and he let himself hug back, his fingers clutching the material of his brother's shirt as he did so.

Listening to Sam work through it, Dean moved a hand so he could card it back through his brother's too long bangs to keep it out of his face and holding back his own tears when the walls once again came down around Sam's fears and memories and he turned his face against Dean's neck and rode out the pain.

"I wouldn't have left you, Sammy. No way in hell would I have left you or not have looked for you," he finally spoke after a long while and he felt Sam slowly relaxing which told him his brother had exhausted himself to the point where he'd be able to hear him now. "I got to you as fast as I could and…I made certain that if anything had happened to me that Bryan knew to get you out."

He felt Sam tense at that but decided he needed to be honest with him. "I'm good at this, Sam but Benny was a vampire with a lot more going for him and I wasn't one hundred percent certain that I could kill him in time to save you and that's why I called Bry because I knew he'd do what needed done and get you out," he shifted a hand back to Sam's neck to squeeze it while keeping his other arm still around his little brother. "I'd never leave you, Sammy."

Any time before last month, hell in the past few months, Sam might not have believed that as easily as he once would have but now, even if he hadn't heard the slight drop in the husky voice, he knew Dean meant it and let himself believe that his brother never would've given up on him.

"Did you think I would?" Dean asked this quietly but didn't need to hear the answer to know by Sam's small shudder that a good bit of the mistrust that he'd allowed to build between them still made his little brother think he'd be left alone. "No, I moved Heaven and Hell to find you last time and I did this time too when we realized you weren't in the first box. Did you hear anything from the phone toward the end, Sam?"

"Cutting…in and out," Sam murmured, suddenly tired as the emotional turmoil of the evening began to win out and he wanted to sleep for the first time since waking up in Fay Cabot's house to see his brother pass out. "It was…hard to breathe but…thought I heard you…wasn't sure and…"

Hearing the dropped words and softly slurred words, Dean knew the signs of exhaustion and shifted carefully to ease his brother back only to feel Sam hold on tighter. "I talked to you, Sam. I tried to hope that you could hear me so you'd know I was coming for you because some asshole would have to kill me and make damn certain I'm dead before I wouldn't come looking for my pain in the ass little brother."

He relaxed a little when he finally heard a small chuckle and felt Sam's fingers ease off but knew his brother wasn't ready to let go fully yet and guessed he'd had enough sleep as he eased back to lean against the headboard.

"Also, what happened between me and Benny wasn't your fault, Sam. That got filed under everything else I have ever done for you and I don't regret it," Dean moved his arm to see what Sam would do and wasn't shocked when his brother merely just pulled a pillow over to crush it up before tucking it into his arms while choosing to use Dean's shoulder to sleep on. "Ain't this gonna be too hot, Sasquatch?"

"Nope, don't wan' be alone tonight," Sam still could see and feel the memories and opened one just slightly hazy eye to gaze at his brother, seeing that Dean looked pained at the thought of this but knew his brother would give in. "I heard him bite you."

That did it for Dean. He said nothing else in objection to letting Sam lean against him if it meant the kid would sleep without nightmares. "You know that I'm going to be here for you through this, right?" he asked, waiting for Sam to get comfortable before casually letting his arm drape loosely over his brother's shoulders while using the fingers of his free hand to card back through hair that was soaked with sweat. "That you will get through this?"

There were moments when Sam wasn't sure he wanted to but then he thought back to his life and knew good or bad that he wouldn't trade it or give it up without a fight. That so long as he and Dean were good, without the lies or fights, than he could overcome the more recent horrors in his life.

"Yeah, I know, De'n," he yawned, closing his eyes before opening them again. "I…I…mean I…"

"I love you too, Sammy," Dean wished that it hadn't gotten to the point where his own brother was scared to admit that but understood that his own rule, the main rule that Sam grew up with, had made it that way and that he might have to adjust that rule some. "Now, are you good or not? Cause I figure I can do this all night if it means you actually will sleep eventually."

Giving a tiny smile, Sam closed his eyes while accepting the light touch of his brother's fingers in his hair as he fell to sleep feeling at ease with himself and his brother again. "De'n?"

"Yeah, Sammy?" Dean knew the kid was one step from sleep but didn't push it since he also knew he'd be extending their stay one more night since after this Sam would crash and sleep like the dead until his body was ready to wake up.

"I think I want burgers when I wake up," Sam hadn't been hungry for anything since leaving Weston so this comment was a surprise to his brother who had just been pondering the huge fight it would be to get his brother to east. "No onions."

Swallowing hard, Dean would later think it silly that such a simple request is what nearly brought him to tears as he chuckled and used his thumb to wipe the rest of the wetness from Sam's cheek and nodded. "Yeah, baby brother. You can have burgers when you wake up. You can have anything you want…except for that damn IPod thing in my baby," he added quickly, knowing how his brother's mind worked.

Sam laughed quietly and fell to sleep fully without any memories or feelings chasing him.

"G'night, Sammy," Dean murmured while letting his fingers keep going through Sam's hair as he let his own eyes close to just allow the memories pass through him until he slowly relaxed while silently promising that he would make damn certain things would be better for Sam soon…now he just had to figure out what in the Hell their prophet had found out.

**The End**

**A/NII: **_Now this really is the end for this one. I hope you guys enjoyed this extra chapter and it had the proper amount of brother bonding._

_I want to thank everyone who has read this. Thank you for the reviews as they are love to a writers soul and thank you for your patience since chapters did not come as quickly as I would've liked._

_I hope everyone enjoyed it and enjoyed the return of Special Agent Markus as well as the introduction of his very unique and colorful grandmother._

_Look for more stories to come soon and feel free to look me up on Facebook under morgana07. I love meeting and chatting with readers. Thanks!_


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